Changes keep happening in the circular halls of Cupertino. The latest, as reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is that Alan Dye, the vice president of Human Interface Design who gave us Liquid Glass and the Vision Pro interface, is leaving Apple to head up Meta’s design team responsible for hardware and software for all of Meta’s offerings.
Longtime designer at Apple, Steve Lemay will take over Dye’s responsibility at Apple.
According to Bloomberg:
With the Dye hire, Meta is creating a new design studio and putting him in charge of design for hardware, software and AI integration for its interfaces.
He will be reporting to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who oversees Reality Labs. That group is tasked with developing wearable devices, such as smart glasses and virtual reality headsets.
Dye’s major focus will be revamping Meta’s consumer devices with artificial intelligence features. He will serve as chief design officer for the group starting Dec. 31.
Dye follows other recent Apple departures including Jeff Williams and John Giannandrea amid speculation about Tim Cook’s possible departure as CEO. Apple has also seen other departures of some of its design talent over the last few years.
You don’t need a looking glass, liquid or otherwise, to know that these personnel changes perhaps presage different thinking on the horizon for Apple’s product lines.
Frankly, I think we’re all looking forward to some change ahead.
Addendum: John Gruber’s after the news broke post on this provides some interesting Gruber-esque context. I’m certainly no where close to being connected to anyone on anything I write about Apple and how I use its products, but there’s quite a bit in Gruber’s post that strikes me as how I’ve felt about Apple design recently.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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