Airbnb hires Jony Ive to design next-gen products and services

AppleInsider · October 21, 2020 11:33PM

Online vacation rental giant Airbnb on Wednesday said it has hired former Apple CDO Jony Ive and his company LoveFrom to assist in the design of future products and services.

Announced in a blog post from Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, Ive will work on next-generation "products and services" as a design consultant. It appears that he will report directly to Chesky, or collaborate on design initiatives with the CEO, throughout what is described as a "multi-year relationship."

"Jony will also help us continue to develop our internal design team, which he believes to be one of the world's best," Chesky writes. "I know he is particularly excited about a relationship that will evolve to become a deep collaboration with our creative team."

As noted by The Information, Ive and Chesky have known each other for years. Ive helped flesh out Airbnb's logo in 2014, while Chesky wrote Ive's biography for Time magazine's top 100 most influential people in 2015.

Airbnb on Wednesday told employees that its chief design officer, Alex Schleifer, would step down to a part-time role, The Information reports. Schleifer led the company's design team for six years.

Today's news comes ahead of Airbnb's initial public offering, which is currently targeted for December.

After nearly three decades at Apple, Ive departed the company in 2019 to set up independent design consultancy LoveFrom. Ive played a critical roll in shaping Apple's famed design language during his long tenure at the company. His fingerprints are on everything from iPhone to Apple Park in Cupertino.

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hammeroftruth · October 21, 2020 11:40PM

Some Ive designed comment cards or water bottles would be nice.

spamsandwich · October 21, 2020 11:47PM

Ive was the one who tended to get the credit, but Jobs was the one making all the decisions on design. Jony would follow directions to an excruciating degree, which is what Steve loved about him. If he wants to waste his time on Airbnb trash, good riddance.

edited October 2020

beats · October 21, 2020 11:56PM

Funny a few days ago I was scouring the internet trying to find what LoveFrom was working on and nothing came up.

I'm betting he will refuse to work on tech that competes with Apple.

sflocal · October 22, 2020 12:05AM

SpamSandwich said:

Ive was the one who tended to get the credit, but Jobs was the one making all the decisions on design. Good riddance.

Jobs decided what design of Ive's made the cut. If Jobs didn't like a design, Ive would redesign it to facilitate the change. Nothing wrong with that. Not sure why the hate.

cornchip · October 22, 2020 12:16AM

sflocal said:

SpamSandwich said:

Ive was the one who tended to get the credit, but Jobs was the one making all the decisions on design. Good riddance.

Jobs decided what design of Ive's made the cut. If Jobs didn't like a design, Ive would redesign it to facilitate the change. Nothing wrong with that. Not sure why the hate.

Exactly. Design isn’t one way. It’s a back and forth. It’s twisted around and shaped to perfection over time with many, many people involved. To think it was one guy saying “do it this way!” and then out it popped, is pretty out of touch.

ihatescreennames · October 22, 2020 12:28AM

Airbnb makes physical products? I had no idea. I thought their only product was an app which was an interface to their service of connecting short-term tenants with home owners. I’m a little stumped as to what Ive will be working on. Does anyone have an idea?

It also says he’ll be working on services. Again, what sort of service requires an industrial designer?

n2macs · October 22, 2020 12:32AM

It sounds like Ives was brought on board to enhance their IPO. What could he possibly be designing for Airbnb? New condos? Stationary? Is Ives struggling for work?

beats · October 22, 2020 12:37AM

ihatescreennames said:

Airbnb makes physical products? I had no idea. I thought their only product was an app which was an interface to their service of connecting short-term tenants with home owners. I’m a little stumped as to what Ive will be working on. Does anyone have an idea?

It also says he’ll be working on services. Again, what sort of service requires an industrial designer?

Ummm this is for future products and Jony designs software too.

davidmalcolm · October 22, 2020 12:54AM

People forget that Jonny has strong opinions on software that very much won the day at Apple. He’ll probably start by overhauling how Airbnb’s different interfaces work.

Also this doesn’t surprise me much, the Airbnb guys are massive Apple Fans. Early on all their call centre reps used Macs. These days they’ve moved a lot of their newer reps to chromeOS based devices. But still, they’re a company that actually has a huge emphasis on design of systems and policies.

boltsfan17 · October 22, 2020 2:04AM

Maybe Jony Ive is going to narrate virtual tours of rentals with his soothing British accent.

beats · October 22, 2020 2:14AM

davidmalcolm said:

People forget that Jonny has strong opinions on software that very much won the day at Apple. He’ll probably start by overhauling how Airbnb’s different interfaces work.

Also this doesn’t surprise me much, the Airbnb guys are massive Apple Fans. Early on all their call centre reps used Macs. These days they’ve moved a lot of their newer reps to chromeOS based devices. But still, they’re a company that actually has a huge emphasis on design of systems and policies.

Absolutely NO ONE chooses Chromebooks because they like them. This is based on price.

razorpit · October 22, 2020 2:27AM

Beats said:

davidmalcolm said:

People forget that Jonny has strong opinions on software that very much won the day at Apple. He’ll probably start by overhauling how Airbnb’s different interfaces work.

Also this doesn’t surprise me much, the Airbnb guys are massive Apple Fans. Early on all their call centre reps used Macs. These days they’ve moved a lot of their newer reps to chromeOS based devices. But still, they’re a company that actually has a huge emphasis on design of systems and policies.

Absolutely NO ONE chooses Chromebooks because they like them. This is based on price.

My kid has to use one for school. Crime against humanity. Hopefully Apple can figure something out with this new ASi to build a laptop for a few extra hundred bucks over the cost of a Chromebook. Then hire someone to run a project to take over Chromebook’s dominance in the education market. Seems like every few years they make some educational push then just let it die a slow death.

paul turner · October 22, 2020 3:34AM

boltsfan17 said:

Maybe Jony Ive is going to narrate virtual tours of rentals with his soothing British accent.

I can here him now “with airbnb you really immerse yourself and feel the quality of the room ..... its a personal thing..... rich luxurious. Intuitive to the touch”

oh please Jony boy sod off ya wanker!

edited October 2020

rayz2016 · October 22, 2020 3:49AM

boltsfan17 said:

Maybe Jony Ive is going to narrate virtual tours of rentals with his soothing British accent.

“A device, intricate in its simplicity, in its design and purpose: to bring together the inside and the out.”

—Jony Ive describing the lobby door.

bestkeptsecret · October 22, 2020 5:37AM

paul turner said:

boltsfan17 said:

Maybe Jony Ive is going to narrate virtual tours of rentals with his soothing British accent.

I can here him now “with airbnb you really immerse yourself and feel the quality of the room ..... its a personal thing..... rich luxurious. Intuitive to the touch”

oh please Jony boy sod off ya wanker!

Why such bitterness? What has Ive done to you?

markbyrn · October 22, 2020 6:26AM

I'll say that Airbnb is a better choice than J.C. Penny.

equality72521 · October 22, 2020 8:03AM

Rayz2016 said:

boltsfan17 said:

Maybe Jony Ive is going to narrate virtual tours of rentals with his soothing British accent.

“A device, intricate in its simplicity, in its design and purpose: to bring together the inside and the out.”

—Jony Ive describing the lobby door.

That’s strong. Needs a “We believe” in there somewhere maybe?

chocolateking · October 22, 2020 9:36AM

Tragic to see Jony Ive in a granddad suit, Tom Ford glasses which does not fit....no mirror at home? I. was a big fan of him at Apple but I think he lost orientation....so sad.
Still good enough for airbnb's IPO...

fred1 · October 22, 2020 10:06AM

SpamSandwich said:

Ive was the one who tended to get the credit, but Jobs was the one making all the decisions on design. Jony would follow directions to an excruciating degree, which is what Steve loved about him. If he wants to waste his time on Airbnb trash, good riddance.

Sure, and Steve designed the glass stair (nope, the architect I.M. Pei)
and the New York Apple flagship store (nope, that was the architectural firm of Bohlin, Cywinski, and Jackson)
oh, and the new HQ (wrong again, that was the architect Lord Norman Foster).

Sure, Steve had input, but to give him all the credit for designing these is just false. The same with saying that Jobs designed all the Apple products.

jeffythequick · October 22, 2020 10:36AM

"When looking for a place to stay, I thought, 'how can we make this sing to the soul?'
We sat down and looked at current hotels, and saw they were lacking the thing that we miss most about home:
Laundry Rooms
Bathrooms we have to clean ourselves
Sheets and beds that aren't made when we get back from where we were.
We created an experience that mimics the home experience, even to the one outlet that doesn't work, and the light switch that is out of place, and a television that is mounted on the wrong wall.
And we bring it to you, along with a deposit that you can't justify getting back.
Airbnb.

Like home, only more expensive.
"

Airbnb hires Jony Ive to design next-gen products and services

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