theTeam.

Jonathan Ive.

By Peter Mills 03 Mar 2010.
0 comments

On Tuesday evening in balmy Kensington at the esteemed halls of the Royal Geographic Society, perhaps the world's most famous product designer took to the stage. Jonathan Ive is Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple and is responsible for iMac, iBook, iPod and iPhone. I took a picture of him, on my iPhone, of course.

He is nothing but modest, polite, diplomatic. But he's also absolutely resolute about his point of view. It was a 'conversation' with the RCA's rector, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, who equally appears utterly charming. Members of the packed room, all leaning forward to capture every softly spoken word, had been invited to ask a question. When the questions were opened to the floor, my heart sank: my question had failed to appear.

The theme of his responses were pretty universal. Work in collaboration, be fanatical in the attention to detail, do one thing really, really well, and be excellent. Not much to ask for then. But in rounding up, Sir Christopher said he had a couple of additional questions. And the last one was mine! I was so pleased I told the complete stranger next to me.

I asked that, should he rule the world (he's far too modest to take on that kind of responsibility), what single thing would he use Apple's technology for to do something for good. He sidestepped his reply, not, I'm sure, because of a lack of imagination, but because he wanted to reinforce the point that if he can demonstrate that design can make a difference if done well, and with single-minded purpose, then the world would be a better place. Can't argue with that.

Professor Jeremy Myerson, in an entertaining presentation before Jony (as he's known, apparently) came on stage, mixed iPhone's text messaging graphics with pictures of Charles Darwin to connect the past with the present, with a very polite homage to their guest. He pointed out that Darwin felt those who survive will be those who collaborate and improvise. It's as though he had heard the conversation that was about to follow. Uncanny.

Talk to me at petermills@theteam.co.uk