One of the best folks to ask about Steve Lemay, the brand new head of person interface design at Apple, are the individuals who’ve labored with him.
Spoiler alert: They appear completely thrilled. The phrase “excited” retains arising of their feedback on the change in management.
Right here’s what the folks ready to actually know Lemay should say about him.
Steve Lemay brings new management to Apple’s interface design
Apple constructed a fame for good user-interface design, beginning with the Mac and persevering with to iPhone and different merchandise. A well-designed UI is crucial as a result of it determines how successfully folks can use their computer systems. A strong characteristic is ineffective if it’s onerous to search out, complicated or irritating.
Alan Dye served as vp of human interface design at Apple since 2015, however this week Meta poached him. There’s seemingly little unhappiness at his departure. Actually, many on social media appear downright giddy.
Primarily, that’s as a result of Dye is the general public face of the Liquid Glass design language that debuted this fall in iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. Whereas the brand new look discovered many followers, others criticize it closely.
Dye’s background isn’t in person interfaces. Earlier than Apple, he labored at Kate Spade, an organization that makes purses, clothes and residential items. Beforehand, he labored at Ogilvy & Mather, a advertising firm.
Apple UI designers love Steve Lemay
With Dye leaving, Steve Lemay will take over as head of interface design at Apple. It’s a crucial place: He’ll decide how nicely iOS and macOS work for years to return. Luckily, his fellow designers assume he can deal with it. Greater than that, truly — they assume he’s one of the best individual for the job.
“Steve’s been my supervisor for my whole 15 12 months profession to date at Apple, and I couldn’t be extra excited for this new period,” Chan Karunamuni wrote on X.
One other member of the interface design crew at Apple chimed in.
“Steve’s one of the best supervisor I’ve ever had and is the right individual to steer the crew,” wrote Brandon Walkin on X. “Like Chan, I’m extraordinarily excited in regards to the new period of design at Apple.”
… and so do his former co-workers
A few of Lemay’s former co-workers additionally sang his praises.
“Steve Lemay is by far one of the best designer I’ve ever met or labored with in my whole life,” Ben Hylak, a former member of the UI design crew, wrote on X. “Actually taught me what design is. Extremely thrilling for Apple.”
Dorian Dargan, one other earlier co-worker, additionally stated Lemay’s rise portends good issues for Cupertino.
“Steve is goated (unique iPhone design crew) and doesn’t cease till issues are easy and intuitive,” Dargan wrote on X. “He’s a generational expertise and one of the best interplay design chief I’ve labored with in my profession. Apple Human Interface Design is in nice palms.”
The long run appears vivid for Apple’s UI crew
Lots of Lemay’s present co-workers are unwilling to remark publicly — Apple is an organization famous for its secrecy and doesn’t welcome feedback by rank-and-file workers on high-profile company management modifications. However Daring Fireball’s John Gruber spoke off the document to many workers.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to is glad — if not downright giddy — on the information that Lemay is changing Dye,” Gruber wrote.
Growth of subsequent 12 months’s iOS 27 and macOS 27 will reportedly emphasize eradicating bugs and enhancing efficiency than on including new options to the working programs. If true, this appears an excellent time for a brand new vp to imagine management of the human interface design crew.
Lemay can spend a lot of the subsequent 12 months enhancing the feel and appear of Apple’s working programs — and sharpening the shiny new Liquid Glass interface — with out being overly distracted by a have to design UIs for brand spanking new Apple apps.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and utilizing it for for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Traditional II (which he nonetheless has), however now he makes use of a 13-inch iPad Professional as his main pc. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, in addition to different websites.
