乔布斯幕后的设计奇才

2012-03-16 00:00:00来源：FT中文网

The value of an iPhone or an iPad is not the object itself, despite the price tag. The value is the information held within it: the photos, the friend updates, the news articles, all accessible with the swipe of a finger. The object itself is designed with that in mind: sleek, smooth, and above all simple, so that what’s inside defines the experience. 　　　　iPhone和iPad的价值并不在于设备本身，尽管它们售价不菲。它们的价值在于其中存储的信息：照片、朋友的动态、新闻文章，只需手指一划就能查阅一切。这些设备在设计时就考虑到了这一点：它们光滑、造型优美，最重要的是简单。其内在的特性决定了用户的体验。
The device’s architect is much like that himself: introverted and, to the vast majority of people who carry one of his creations, all but invisible. But inside Apple’s tightly guarded design studios, Jonathan Ive is complex and powerful, much like the inner workings of an iPhone. 　　　　这些设备的设计很像乔纳森艾夫(Jonathan Ive)本人：内向，对于绝大多数手拿他的作品的用户而言，他几乎不存在。不过在苹果公司(Apple)层层把关的设计工作室中，艾夫多面而强大，就像iPhone的内部构造。
Apple’s senior vice-president of industrial design is in charge of shaping its smooth metal laptops, candy-coloured iPods and slick white iPads, the latest version of which was unveiled this week in San Francisco, where he sat quietly on the sidelines. 　　　　这位主管工业设计的苹果高级副总裁曾负责过设计光滑柔和的金属笔记本电脑、色彩艳丽的iPod和简洁大方的白色iPad。上周，苹果在旧金山发布了iPad的最新版，当时乔纳森静静地坐在会场的角落。
Talking about the iPhone in the documentary Objectified, he said: “A lot of what we seem to be doing in a product like that is actually getting design out of the way. And I think when forms develop with that sort of reason and they’re not just arbitrary shapes, it feels almost inevitable, it feels almost undesigned.” 　　　　他在纪录片《设计面面观》(Objectified)中谈论iPhone时说：“我们在设计这些产品时所做的大量工作，实际上是抛弃传统。我认为，以这种理念设计产品外观，那么产品就不仅仅是形状上不入俗套，你会觉得它的存在是必然的，浑然天成。”
Public plaudits accrued slowly for the London-born designer, but he now has a string of awards and honours to his name, culminating last year in a knighthood. He spent most of his career in the shadow of Steve Jobs, his brash, outspoken boss, but when Jobs gave credit for a design he gave it to Sir Jonathan. Investors and consumers have paid their respects with purchases of Apple products and stock, sending the company’s equity valuation past $500bn for the first time last month. 　　　　公众对这位生于伦敦的设计师的赞誉来得很慢，不过现在他已经赢得了许多奖项和荣誉。他得到的最高殊荣是去年获封爵位。在职业生涯的大部分时间，他都站在自负又直话直说的老板史蒂夫乔布斯(Steve Jobs)的阴影当中，不过乔布斯在赞赏某项设计时，都会把这份功劳给予乔纳森爵士。投资者和消费者通过购买苹果产品和股票表达了他们的敬意，最终让苹果市值在上个月首次突破了5000亿美元。
Sir Jonathan, 45, is probably most revered by the next generation of designers, the 20- and 30-something Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are starting their own technology companies with his standards of simplicity and beauty in mind. 　　　　今年45岁的乔纳森可能是最受下一代设计师、以及二三十岁的硅谷创业者崇敬的人物。那些年轻的创业者在建立自己的科技公司时，也都秉承着他简单和美观至上的标准。
At the offices of Path, a mobile social networking application built for the iPhone, the conference room is named after Sir Jonathan, whose portrait hangs over the doorway. 　　　　Path是一款为iPhone开发的移动社交网络应用，在Path的办公室里，会议室就是以乔纳森爵士的名字命名的，他的画像就挂在门廊里。
“We have insane amounts of respect for him,” says Dave Morin, chief executive of Path and a former Apple employee, who recalls attending a meeting at Apple that Sir Jonathan conducted. An upset employee complained about an aspect of the MacBook laptop that made it difficult for disabled people to use. Sir Jonathan explained that the team had gone to great lengths to design every feature so that a person could operate the machine with one finger, including testing and adjusting the weight of the screen for three months so that it could be opened with one finger without tipping the laptop over. 　　　　Path首席执行官、苹果公司前员工戴夫莫林(Dave Morin)在回忆一次在苹果公司参加由乔纳森爵士主持的会议时说：“我们对他的尊敬就像着了魔似的。”一位不满的员工抱怨MacBook笔记本电脑在某一方面不便于残障人士使用。乔纳森爵士解释说，设计团队为了让电脑的每项功能都可以用一根手指操作，做了大量的工作，包括花三个月时间测试和调整屏幕的重量，从而让用户能用一根手指掀开屏幕，而又不至于掀翻电脑。
Ultimately, Mr Morin adds, “great products come from great partnerships between a designer and an entrepreneur”. Sir Jonathan is known for his meticulous approach and minimalist aesthetic, a hallmark of his main creative influence, Dieter Rams, who designed radios, coffee makers, and other household appliances for the German consumer products maker Braun. But by most accounts his success at Apple stems from his close relationship with Jobs. 　　　　最后，莫林又补充说：“伟大的产品来自于设计师和企业家的伟大合作。”乔纳森爵士以细致入微的态度和极简主义的美学而著称，这也是对乔纳森的创作风格影响最深的设计师迪特拉姆斯(Dieter Rams)的特点。迪特拉姆斯为德国消费品制造商博朗(Braun)设计过收音机、咖啡机以及其他许多家用电器。不过多数人把他在苹果的成功归功于和乔布斯的紧密关系。
“There are two schools of thought on this,” says Mark Rolston, chief creative officer at Frog Design. “One is that he is a transformational designer, someone who’s transcended typical notions of quality and brought something really special to the market. A more complicated read is that he was the right man at the right time.” 　　　　“关于这一点有两种说法，”青蛙设计(Frog Design)首席创意总监马克罗斯顿(Mark Rolston)说。“一种说法是，他是一位革命性的设计师，他超越了传统的质量至上观念，向市场推出了绝对独特的产品。另一种更复杂的解读是，他是在正确的时间出现的正确的人。”
Apple hired him in 1992. But his work did not take off until Jobs returned to the company in 1997. The two became close collaborators. Jobs gave Sir Jonathan creative freedom and time to explore designs and invest in resources. He travelled to China and Japan and oversaw the design of the factories that manufactured metals and glass for Apple products. “If I had a spiritual partner at Apple, it’s Jony,” Jobs told his biographer, Walter Isaacson. “He is a wickedly intelligent person in all ways. He understands business concepts, marketing concepts. He picks stuff up just like that, click.” 　　　　苹果公司在1992年雇佣了乔纳森。不过直到乔布斯1997年回归苹果之后，乔纳森的工作才真正起飞。他们两人成为了紧密的合作伙伴，乔布斯给予乔纳森设计的自由，给他时间探索设计和投入资源。他出差到中国和日本，视察为苹果产品制造金属和玻璃的工厂的设计。“如果说我在苹果有知己的话，那就是乔纳森，”乔布斯对自己的传记作者沃尔特艾萨克森(Walter Isaacson)这样说。“他在各个方面都异常聪明，既了解商业概念，也了解营销概念。他能轻而易举地学到新东西，手到擒来。”
But to others, Sir Jonathan’s main talent was his ability to manage his relationship with Jobs and even exploit it for his own advancement. “Jony’s a very, very political person,” said an ex-Apple employee. “You do not want to cross him or you lose pretty much everything.” 　　　　但对于其他人而言，乔纳森的主要才能在于处理他与乔布斯的关系、甚至利用这种关系让自己获得晋升的能力。“乔纳森是一个非常、非常喜欢搞政治的人，”一位苹果前员工表示，“你不能与他反目，否则你会失去几乎一切。”
What remains to be seen is how Sir Jonathan fares without Jobs, under new chief executive Tim Cook, a businessman who until recently, was Sir Jonathan’s peer in Apple’s hierarchy. 　　　　目前尚不清楚，没有了乔布斯的乔纳森，在新任首席执行官蒂姆库克(Tim Cook)的领导下会有何种表现。在此之前，在苹果的等级制度中，商人库克与乔纳森还是同级。
Apple has not released a new breakthrough product since the original iPad in April 2010, and the modest updates of the latest iPad drew a mixed response from analysts. Yet Mr Cook hinted that there was more in the pipeline, saying “we are just getting started”. 　　　　自从2010年4月推出第一代iPad以来，苹果还没有发布过新的突破性产品，对于最新一代iPad的温和改进，分析师的反应也是好坏不一。然而，库克暗示，还有更多新的产品准备推出，他表示“我们只是刚刚开始”。
The reality of the design process, is that it takes a full team to produce stellar products, Mr Rolston says. Yet Britain at least is eager to claim Sir Jonathan’s individual talents: Priya Guha, British consul-general in San Francisco, says he “epitomises the strengths of British design and innovation”. But Britain has had to admire him from afar for most of his career. Born in London, he was always taking things apart as a child. His curiosity about objects developed into an interest in making them. After graduating from Newcastle Polytechnic, he worked briefly for a London consultancy, designing everything from combs to televisions. Apple was among its clients. Soon it lured Sir Jonathan to California. This year marks his 20th anniversary at the company. 　　　　罗斯顿表示，设计过程的真实情况是，明星产品的诞生是整个团队的努力结果。然而，至少英国急于宣扬乔纳森的个人天赋：英国驻旧金山总领事普里亚古哈(Priya Guha)表示，乔纳森“是英国设计和创新实力的缩影”。但英国只能在遥远的大洋彼岸赞美他的大半程职业生涯。生于伦敦的乔纳森小时候总是会把东西拆开。他对物件的好奇逐渐变成了一种对制造物件的兴趣。从纽卡斯尔综合性工程技术学院(Newcastle Polytechnic)毕业后，他曾短期供职于伦敦一家咨询机构，设计从梳子到电视等众多商品。苹果是该公司的客户之一。苹果很快把乔纳森吸引到了加州。今年，是他在苹果的第20个年头。
In an interview with Stephen Fry in San Francisco, where he lives with his wife and twin sons, he credited American culture for its conduciveness to innovation. “I think there’s a conspicuous lack of cynicism and scepticism,” he said. “Ideas are so fragile aren’t they? It’s so easy to miss an idea because it can be so quiet, or to snuff an idea out. The inquisitiveness and the willingness to try is so important for design, for developing those tentative fragile ideas into a real product.” 　　　在旧金山接受斯蒂芬弗莱(Stephen Fry)的采访时，乔纳森称赞美国文化有助于其创新，他现在与妻子和两个儿子住在旧金山。“在我看来，这里显然不存在愤世嫉俗和怀疑主义，”他表示，“创意非常脆弱，不是吗？我们很容易失去一个创意，因为它可能会毫不起眼，或者扼杀一个创意。好奇心和乐于尝试的意愿对于设计、以及将这些尝试性的脆弱创意变成一件真实的产品非常重要。”
The writer is the FT’s San Francisco correspondent