14 DAY TRIAL // Conceived in 1997 by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the National Design Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in design. The finalists and winners of the 2007 National Design Awards were announced, recognizing excellence across various disciplines, including architecture, communications, fashion, interior, landscape and product design.
The Product Design Award - given to individuals or companies for exceptional and exemplary work in the design of consumer goods, technology or home and office furnishings - was awarded to Apple's Jonathan Ive.
Given for work in the design of consumer goods, technology or home and office furnishings, the 2007 Product Design Award is presented to Jonathan Ive, the senior vice president of industrial design at Apple Inc., where, since 1996, he has led a product design team widely regarded as one of the industry's best. Ive's streamlined design aesthetic, combined with a strong knowledge of the engineering process, has brought design into the public consciousness in an unprecedented way. Creating some of the most innovative products of the past decade, ranging from the iMac and iBook to the now iconic iPod, Ive has not only made complex technological devices user-friendly, he has designed sculptural, desirable objects. He was named Designer of the Year (2003) by the Design Museum of London, awarded the title Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts and was included as a finalist in this category in 2006. Apple was included in the 2000 and 2006 National Design Triennials and won the 2000 Corporate Achievement Award.
Much like Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive is considered one of the reasons for the success Apple has nowadays. Responsible for the Cupertino Company's uniquely looking and designed products, Ive makes Apple's offerings desirable beyond features and technical details. The difference between products like the iPod and iMac and their competitors may be more than skin deep, but looks are what differentiates them the most from anything else in the store window.