Apple CEO John Ternus says the test for any design decision is whether it makes the product better for the person using it. Ideas that turn out to be frivolous or distracting get cut, but he made clear that some playful details survive.
TIME released the video version of its Ternus interview on Tuesday, with extra discussion about design that was not in the written story. The interviewer asked how Apple separates a design choice that adds something to a product from one that only draws attention.
Apple Cuts Design Ideas That Distract, Ternus Says
Ternus said Apple’s teams work together to decide what makes a product better for its users. Anything frivolous or distracting is ruled out along the way.
He also described how he stays close to design. Ternus is a mechanical engineer by background, so the team he has worked with most at Apple is the industrial designers, and he has done that since he joined the company. Design sits at the center of Apple, he said, and “design means everything to us.”
And what’s incredible is our designers, both on the software side and the hardware side, they really understand the engineering. And the engineers have a very deep appreciation for design.
That matches a recent report that Ternus is acting as Apple’s design chief himself, with regular visits to the design studio several times a week.
The iPhone Duo Opening Animation Is There for Whimsy
Ternus pointed to the animation that plays when iPhone Duo opens to its inner display. It serves no functional purpose, but he said it can make the device more satisfying to use. Ternus summed it up by saying, “Sometimes you just want a little whimsy.”
He brought up the same animation in an earlier interview about how iPhone Duo got its shape, calling it a small touch that makes people smile the first time they see it.
Ternus also discussed Kids Cue, a feature that shows Peanuts characters such as Snoopy on the outer screen of iPhone Duo to draw a child’s attention toward the camera during a photo. He said building a different kind of iPhone gave Apple’s teams room to explore ideas that the new hardware made possible.
Ternus Wants Apple’s AI Features to Work Without Announcing Themselves
The same experience-first thinking applies to AI. Ternus said the technology creates chances to improve existing products and build new ones, but people should be able to appreciate a feature without knowing that AI makes it possible.
He named personalized experiences, supported by the information already on a person’s phone, as a focus for Apple. Ternus has also made the case for why the iPhone stays Apple’s AI hub.
The interview closed with a question about what Ternus wants to preserve as CEO.
The opportunities in the products, that stuff will change. It’ll evolve as it does as new technologies come, but the way we work, I don’t want that to change.
iPhone Duo goes on sale Friday, October 23.
