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Take A Video Tour of Apple's Design Studio
Mar 11, 2025
Take a virtual tour of Apple's super-secret Industrial Design Studio, where Sir Jonathan Ive and his team of designers create Apple's products. More in Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products. http://www.jonyivebook.com
View Video Transcript
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this is Apple's campus and this building
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here is infinite loop to the entire
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ground floor is home to Apple celebrated
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industrial design studio very few people
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have been aside even some of Apple's own
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executives are forbidden from going in
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there it's so secretive the designers
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call it the studio behind the iron
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curtain I'm going to take you on a tour
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this is a map of the studio
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showing the basic layout it's based on a
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sketch from one of the designers who
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worked there for nearly a decade
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we also dug up the blueprints for the
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building and use it to make the floor
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plan let's go take a look here's the
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front door it's a big heavy door it
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opens onto an entryway line with
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stainless steel this is the presentation
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space it's dominated by some large
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wooden project tables which are used to
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present prototype products to executives
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this is where Steve Jobs gravitated when
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he visited the studio which is almost
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daily when he wasn't traveling the
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presentation tables look just like the
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live tables in Apple's retail stores and
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this is in fact where they got the idea
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each table is dedicated to a different
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project there's one format books and
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other for the iPad the iPhone and so on
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they used to display models and
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prototypes or whatever Johnny wanted to
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show jobs and the other executives the
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models are covered at all times with a
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black cloth to stop anyone from getting
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a peek let's walk over to the left here
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this is the kitchen the heart of the
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studio it's well equipped there's lots
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of food and snacks and there's a
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high-end espresso machine that the
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designers use to make coffee all day
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long it's dominated by a big wooden
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table this is where the designers gather
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at least twice a week for marathon
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brainstorming sessions all the designers
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must be present unless they're traveling
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no exceptions including Johnny the brain
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storms are where they hash out whatever
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the team is working on sometimes it's a
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model presentation or a discussion about
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new iPhone colors the brain storms are
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the key to how they work it's their way
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of getting a mind meld of being creative
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and sorting out tough problems there's
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always a lot of sketching going on
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outside the kitchen is designers
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workspace there are about 20 designers
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at work here although the team has been
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hiring recently so there's probably
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several more they work at 5:00 on tables
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with Lowe dividers the space is lined
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along the wall with a large frosted
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windows there's no way to look inside it
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looks empty here but it's pretty chaotic
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there's stuff everywhere high in bikes
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kayaks basketball hoops there's boxes
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and samples and materials it's loud and
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energetic there's always music playing
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and designers playing soccer or goofing
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about in skateboards let's take a walk
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over to see Johnny Ives office
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this is Johnny's office it's the only
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private office in the space but it's not
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that private it's a glass cube it looks
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just like the glass of the Apple stores
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there's big plates of thick glass held
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together by steel fixtures it measures
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about 12 feet by 12 feet
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it's almost bare there are no pictures
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of his family or Design Awards there's
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only a desk a chair and a lamp but
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that's his custom made by his friend
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Mike Newsome his leather chair is a
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supported chair from the UK it's one of
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his favorite designs this is usually
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back except with 17-inch MacBook and
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several colored pencils for drawing he
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doesn't use an external month or any
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other peripheral equipment next to
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Johnny's office is a large computer
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assisted design room this is another
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glass lined space the CAD room is home
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to about 15 K designers or surfacing
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guys the surface guys make 3d computer
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models the light has always kept love
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they literally sit in the dark when the
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designs have a sketch they'll go in
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there and get one of the surfacing guys
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to turn it into a 3d model the software
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so sophisticated it can be used to build
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photo realistic models of products and
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the designers can play around with
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different colors and lighting conditions
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and features and configurations if the
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designers want to see what it looks like
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as a real object they send a CAD file to
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the machine shop next door here at the
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far end of the space is the machine shop
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or the shop the shop is for also funded
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by a glass wall and divided internally
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into three rooms separated by more glass
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walls this is where the designers make
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models out of foam and other materials
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to see what the 3d computer models look
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like when they're made into real objects
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the civil high-end computer-controlled
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milling machines and drills and lathes
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over to the right is a finishing room
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where the models and photo types are
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sanded and painted it contains a big
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paint spraying booth about the size of a
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car Jonny's team makes hundreds of
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models they make models of everything
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buttons the details of cases but as the
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product development process progresses
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they will outsource the model making to
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a specialist outside firm when he was
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alive Steve Jobs loved coming here
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because he could see everything the
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company did all the products and
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whatever was coming up for the next
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three years they never had PowerPoint
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presentations they just walk around the
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tables playing with the models and this
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is a studio behind the Iron Curtain
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