What Makes a "Good" Designer?

Must be the Luce

Sir Jony Ive strikes again.

I've always loved Ive's designs. Widely considered THE core architect of the most distinguishable design languages of the world's most influential consumer hardware brand, it's not a stretch to say that Ive's team, under his leadership and vision, became the single most influential design team in the history of mankind.

Seriously, if you think about it, almost all designs in the tech space could trace their progeny back to Ive's early days at Apple (while of course, Ive himself attributes Dieter Rams and his "Less is Better" philosophy). Elegance. Charming. Immaculate. Those are just some words I'd use to describe his voice, but are also coincidentally the keywords he almost always hits in Apple's older product videos.

I understand not everyone is aware of who Jony Ive is -- and wouldn't expect so. In my opinion, this is the guy who took Rams' ideas, ran with it, and revolutionised industrial design as we know it in the process. Oh, and also, built the ever-resilient design language of a certain fruit company along the way. So resilient, in fact, that years after Ive left, his vision remains steadfast in its products today.

So, when Ferrari announced that it was launching an EV, designed from the ground up by LoveFrom and Ive, I was absolutely stoked -- and at the same time scared -- of what the end product could look like.

The Excitement

I love EVs. I loved Ive's design language. And, as Sebastian Vettel says, deep down, everyone's a Ferrari fan. All 3 things combined -- I wish you could feel the same excitement I felt when the news broke about an all-new, electric Ferrari designed by LoveFrom, Ive's new design consultancy who, up until recently, was making <checks notes> lanterns?

If you look at Lovefrom's recent designs -- Ive's language dominates the products underneath. No one cares if the lantern works (why does anyone even need a lantern these days) only that it took on the form that was signed off by one of the most legendary designers in the world. This isn't a lantern, it's Jony Ive's design. It just so happens to light up.

It's not publicly known exactly why Ferrari specifically looked to Ive's team to design its new, revolutionary electric car. In my opinion, it was a move that signalled utmost commitment. Ferrari never wanted to look back - no company who hires Lovefrom ever hired them with the intention of creating something that looks like everything they've already did. Ferrari reiterates incessantly that it didn't just want to make an EV - but rather a new class of vehicles that only Ferrari can make. I believe they're sincere -- and fully believed in the spirit of this project.

The Questions

Even so, I never really understood the pairing between Ferrari and Jony Ive.

Ferrari and Lovefrom-Ive has fundamentally clashing brand identities. Ive's designs stem from Dieter Rams' "Less is more" philosophy. Ferrari is all about extra - extra power, extra grooves, extra cylinders, extravagance. With these clashes, Ive's task suddently balloons from "design a new EV" to "reinvent Ferrari's brand story". That is the scope creep of a lifetime.

This is why everyone keeps screaming "The Luce is NOT a Ferrari." The frustration comes from the fact that no one understands why Ferarri would go down this route - signing off a vehicle that seems to whisper "think different" in a soft, british voice instead of screaming with a V12-powered voice box.

The Reveal (Part I)

Ferrari used a staged reveal. They knew it was about to be divisive, even hated (contrary to public opinion, Ferrari are not stupid). And so, on a random Tuesday, Ferrari revealed a sneak peek of the Luce's interior.

It was gorgeous.

Right from the get go, the design philosophy was clear -- physical buttons everywhere. Software UI best practices, printed onto physical objects and clicky knobs. Screens implemented only where it truly matters, where information needs to be dynamic. Otherwise, analog stuff only.

Putting aside the fact that this is a Ferrari -- and clearly departs from every other Ferrari interior -- I love this interior. It screams practicality and a fanatic obsession with clarity and technicality. Lots of sports cars go for the "fighter jet aesthetic", but this one truly feels like a cockpit designed for a jet. No nonsense, here's the G-force meter.

Of course I felt the sense of "uh-oh they're really never going to hear the end of this" when I saw this interior. I knew right from the get go that Ferrari have gotten themselves into biiiig trouble now with the traditional fans of the brand. This is too safe, too cold, too minimalistic. The wheel colours are only available in Space Grey, Silver, and Gold. The arrows too clean, the buttons too clear. There's little to no sense of ferocity, no speed, no performance.

I hoped for the best for the exterior. For the longest while, I assumed Ferrari would go for a more retro look -- that the only way out of this weirdly retro-minimalist looking interior is a similar exterior. Please don't just make the Apple Car.

The Reveal (Part II: Apple Car)

Ugh, dammit.

Jooooony you made the stupid Apple Car omg I swear

Hooooooh where do I even start??

How about the fact that I think it's personally quite rare for me to reject new forms and design languages? There's a plenty of hate for new brandings for existing, well-known brands. Personally, however, I've found it quite easy to accept new identities -- I appreciate the work of brand designers and can see the work and the messaging behind most of it.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand just why Ive simply made the Apple Car. NOTHING about this exterior signals that it's a Ferrari. Even the back of the car -- the 4 round tail lights with no visible LED bulbs (something Ive clearly obsesses over) is obviously something that a familiar tech brand would put out.

What I fail to understand is this -- the interior doesn't even match the exterior in spirit. Yes, both looks like it came from Ive, but what he had ultimately failed to achieve is a cohesiveness in spirit, not just aesthetics. The Luce, now fully unveiled, looks like a deeply conflicted and troubled product. The interior boasts a project-hail-mary-esque language, and somewhere beneath all that Apple-ness is a waft of future-nasa-retro style. That could totally suit the future of performance motoring, and I'd buy that story.

The exterior, however, literally tells a different tale. It's reserved, subtle, and completely devoid of personality. This approach works in tech products and freakin' lanterns -- because most of the time the form of the product needs to dissolve into the experience of using it. And hey, the funny part is I learnt that from this guy called JONY IVE. Tech products are purposefully designed to be a canvas -- deopinionated so that users can project their own personality onto the product.

The car is a very different medium. Car culture is about statements -- the unbearable pretentiousness statements that car owners want to convey about themselves. Driving a Prius means you are likely eco-minded or economy-minded. Driving a Tesla says you are tech-minded. (Can you tell I'm being very cordial right now) Driving a BMW means something, even if your blinkers don't work.

Cars are projections of its owners. It just doesn't work the other way, and that's something both Ive and lots of Chinese tech-first car companies frequently get wrong. Make a car that says nothing, and you sell it to no one.

Who did they make this for?

It's really easy to argue that they designed this for the 5-year-olds today who grew up in the age of technology. Ferrari is an aspirational brand -- 99.9% of people critising this design would never own one, including yours truly. It's not hard to see that Ferrari needs to cater to the kids today who may be able to afford something like that in the far, far future. The Luce is supposed to be a poster on the wall, not for your generation or mine, but for the younglings who may make a ton of money.

But I'm not sure if they succeeded. The Luce stirred up quite the discussion over "the death of the brands we know" and I fear it's a misstep that could deter other brands from evolving their brands in a successful way.

Maybe that's what bothers me most about the Luce. I don't think it's a bad design. In isolation, I might even love it. I can see the obsessive restraint, the clarity, the little decisions that make Jony Ive's work so unmistakably his.

But that's also the problem.

A Ferrari shouldn't be unmistakably Jony Ive before it's unmistakably Ferrari.

Ferrari was absolutely right to take the risk. It was right to ask what a Ferrari should mean in an electric age instead of simply bolting batteries underneath the silhouette of its past. I hope it keeps asking that question.

I just don't think the Luce is the answer.