back to article Apple design bloke Ive finally honoured properly - with Blue Peter badge

The Apple products he designs have high-cost premium components, but Jony Ive fondly remembers making a paintbrush holder out of an old detergent bottle after watching a Blue Peter episode during his childhood in Essex. Sir Jony told Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood in a show to be aired this Saturday that he "remembered …

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  1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Oblig - Here's one I prepared earlier

    When I grew up you were either in the BP camp or in the ITV upstart called Magpie.

    The days of John Noakes and Shep are fond memories of watching BP in my childhood.

    Some of the things they made probably contributed to my eventually becoming a CEng.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Perhaps he could make a copy...

    ...and send it to Dieter Rams. Seems only fair.

    1. Ivan Headache
      Facepalm

      Re: Perhaps he could make a copy...

      OFHS Read up on your design history will you.

      1. Find any item in the entire Braun history that looks as though it was designed by Jony Ive.

      You will be very hard pressed. there are 2 items - but then only if you take very liberal view.

      2. Look for any item in the Jony Ive history that looks like it was designed by Dieter Rams.

      Same again. You will find only the same two items - and the similarity is very tenuous.

      3. Read what Deiter Rams has said himself about Jony Ive's work.

      I' let you do that yourself.

  3. MrT

    Just waiting to see...

    ...if they put duct tape over all of the Apple logos. If it's good enough for Pritt Stick and Fairy Liquid bottles...

    Blue Peter was a good DIYer's springboard. I think "How" and The Great Egg Race got the tech factor, but Tomorrow's World might be a true geek starting point. Altjough it must be said that anything explained by Prof Heinz Wolf sounded right, even if it was just the rules of the game...

  4. Androgynous Crackwhore
    Windows

    Sadly it seems as though the Blue Peter episode will not delve into Apple politics or the extent of his growing influence.

    More "dumbing down" at the beeb. There are two is in Aluminium BTW.

    <-- in lieu of generic "grumpy old git" icon ;o)

    1. Neil Barnes Silver badge
      Boffin

      Apropos of aluminium

      While the extra 'i' is of course the epitome of British style, taste, and good manners... the sad news is that Humphrey Davey originally named it alumium and then aluminum. The ium spelling seems to have come about a few years later when it was thought (correctly: it was Victorian English Scientists[tm] who thought it) that it sounded better; more classical, and it matched other ium endings.

      But our left-pondian cousins, poor benighted folk, chose to stay with the original and far less elegant spelling.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Apropos of aluminium

        However the IUPAC says 2 i's

        They do however bow down to the forces of ignorance and suggest spelling sulphur with an "f" - filistines.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Happy

      Two Is in iAluminum

      Noted for being the the most beautiful and marvellous metal in the periodic table.

  5. Ralph B
    Headmaster

    Fact Checking

    to celebrities including the Queen, JK Rowling and fellow Chingford dweller David Beckham (they went to the same primary school).

    Are we absolutely certain that the Queen and David Beckham went to the same primary school? Of course, she was just Lizzie Windsor back in those days, but she's done pretty well for herself, eh?

    1. deadlockvictim

      Re: Fact Checking

      This explains so much.

      It explains why he lives in a Palace and why David married a Princess. You just don't get any posher than Posh Spice.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prior Art

    Apple must surely have a patent on the GPS enabled schoolbag/lunchbox/pencilcase/wrist tracker?

  7. Chris Miller
    Headmaster

    It's made from

    Aluminium. Not just because this is a Brit article (I don't expect many of the cousins will get Blue Peter), but the IUPAC have agreed to standardise on aluminium as the correct spelling. On the down side, we have to learn to spell sulfur correctly.

    1. markw:

      Re: It's made from

      I already know how to spell sulphur.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Did they pay homage to the Noakes era rules on advertising (*) and refer to him as a designer of "rectangular smartphones"?

    (*) anyone who watched at that time was familiar with all the code words to hide brand names such as "ballpoint pen", "sticky backed plastic", "adhesive tape", "rubber adhesive" etc

    1. P. Lee
      Black Helicopters

      where's your, "double-sided sticky tape, for speed"?

      <- also catches insects.

      1. Jedit Silver badge
        Headmaster

        where's your, "double-sided sticky tape, for speed"?

        Apple patented it so they could use it in Apple Maps.

  9. Silverburn
    Happy

    Jony Ive fondly remembers making a paintbrush holder out of an old detergent bottle

    Bet you he still managed to whale song to buggery the fit & finish, performance and design though. It was - no doubt - the most magical paintbrush holder *in the world*.

    1. Alister
      Angel

      I think you're confusing Jonathan Ive and Jeremy Clarkson...

  10. Mark McNeill
    Trollface

    I can see why Apple and Blue Peter are a good fit

    Children have been making things for them for years...

  11. BigG
    Coat

    Probably more appropriate than

    a "Jim'll Fixit" badge - unless it dissolves after a year.

  12. NightFox
    WTF?

    Fact Check?

    "Only about 1000 gold Blue Peter badges have been presented before.."

    Really, 1000? I'd have thought - given the esteemed recipients mentioned - that the numbers would have been much less, more like 100? I think all presenters also get one on leaving (not sure about those whose departure involved substance abuse) but I still don't think that would have pushed the numbers up far.

    Just surprised, that's all.

    1. Spoddyhalfwit

      Re: Fact Check?

      Great thing with the gold Blue Peter badge is that it can get you into loads of places for free.

      I'll never forget the time I was queuing up at Stringfellows and up rolls bloody Peter Purvis and strolls in like he owns the place.

  13. Stretch

    commence blue peter boycott

    1. JDX Gold badge

      If you're a grown man watching BP in the first place something is wrong.

      1. Silverburn
        Terminator

        In his defence, if you have children it's almost compulsory.

        As a parent, you learn things a grown man is not supposed to know, purely by having childrens TV inflicted on you. Like knowing all the characters in "In the night garden", for example, and how to spot the pinky-ponk from the ninky-nonk, purely by the theme tune.

        Please. Kill me now.

        1. Law

          After seeing that tramp Upsy Daisy playfully giggling while lifting her skirt over and over, then rolling about on her mobile bed-on-wheels, I banned in the night garden from our TV.

      2. Captain DaFt

        @JDX

        And some of us prescribe to the philosophy "Growing older is mandatory, growing up is optional!", or, in response to "Aren't you too old for this?"- "Aren't you a little young to have lost your sense of wonder and fun?"

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Google 'Helen Skelton'

  14. Dave 15
    FAIL

    Really bugs me

    BBC are managing now to advertise Apple to the kids, not content to just have Rory CJ drooling and shouting how wonderful they are they are now targeting kids programs with the same propaganda.

    Apple did NOT invent the touch screen phone, nor the smartphone, nor even the concept of a phone... they did produce a decent device, but frankly it lacked in some areas (like being able to make calls reliably and battery life). Yet the BBC carry on as if the iPhone was some sort of magnificent achievement.

    Perhaps rather than giving a badge to a guy who ran off from his own country and setup abroad they could perhaps have given the badge to the guy who managed to create Symbian from Psion software and the major mobile phone companies, who stayed in the UK, who used British engineers to develop the worlds first smartphone, the company that pioneered touch screens, created the concept of a smartphone, created an OS which allowed for decent battery life (didn't just take some linux and hack it). But oh no, the BBC has joined in with successions of British politicians and other 'stars' to rubbish absolutely everything that British people ever do while praising and worshiping anything foreign. No wonder the country is in such a bloody mess.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge
      Holmes

      Re: Really bugs me

      >Apple did NOT invent...

      And Henry Ford didn't invent the internal combustion engine- so what?

      >Perhaps rather than giving a badge to a guy who ran off from his own country and setup abroad

      British companies could have employed Ive, but their management didn't see the benefits of doing so. Maybe Ive's example will serve as further encouragement to do so.

      >But oh no, the BBC has joined in with successions of British politicians and other 'stars' to rubbish absolutely everything that British people ever do while praising and worshiping anything foreign.

      Really? I though they were celebrating a son of England, and saying to Britain PLC "C'mon, we have the talent, lets use it'. You seem to have forgotten that Blue Peter is a children's show, famous for encouraging children to make functional objects with modern materials- why shouldn't some kids be able say "I want to be a product designer when I grow up"? Interviewing coders and engineers from the nineties is not going to hold the interest of the Blue Peter audience.

      Psion were great, a proper integration of superb hardware and and useful software, the Psion Netbook well ahead of its time, and Psion might have made the first decent HDD MP3 player... but it didn't work out that way. The reasons why would make a fascinating Reg article, but isn't something for six-to-twelve year olds.

      1. Mark .

        Re: Really bugs me

        "but it didn't work out that way."

        He was talking about Symbian, not Psion. And with Symbian going onto be the dominant smartphone platform for years, until 2011, outselling iphone for its lifetime, I'd say it did work out that way. Or if what's important to you is who wins in the long run, well that's Android.

    2. Mark .

      Re: Really bugs me

      Yes - perhaps one could excuse the iphone-focus from the US media (since they are a US company, and since phone technology lagged behind the rest of the world, so a phone that did Internet but not apps may have seemed new to them), but it's a bit sad from the UK media (and I'm glad it's not just me who noticed that about the BBC's Rory...)

      This also seems an attempt to humanise a certain large company by trying to turn unknown people into celebrities, yet for every other company, we have no idea who the CEOs, inventors or designers are. Reminds me when Jobs died, and you had people saying things like "Oh, he genuinely cared about making products, other companies just want to make money" - aside from the ludicrous nature of the claim, you have the subtle comparison of a person, to companies. Sad really - there are people behind those other companies too.

      They already have product placement in every virtually single US TV programme in the last few years (seriously - the only exceptions seem to be genres that aren't set near the present day, e.g., fantasy, sci-fi, historical), whilst seemingly every other advert advertises an app, Sky casino, or Sky TV for fishermen, for iphones (when Android is most popular by far). You'd think we could have a break from it occasionally. (Meanwhile, when someone like Nokia dares to advertise its products, that you see about once a week rather than once every 30 seconds, you get people moaning about how it's having to spend loads on advertising...)

      1. Law

        Re: Really bugs me

        "They already have product placement in every virtually single US TV programme in the last few years (seriously - the only exceptions seem to be genres that aren't set near the present day, e.g., fantasy, sci-fi, historical), whilst seemingly every other advert advertises an app, Sky casino, or Sky TV for fishermen, for iphones (when Android is most popular by far)."

        As somebody who downloads most of his US TV - I've not really seen Apple in product placement situations for a while now... it's MS who seem to be doing this the most. Every computer has a single windows logo on the back of the laptop/screen - they are even giving like 15 second demo's in the middle of the show, completely ripping you out of the story as I grumble about how the news app never opens that quickly!!!!

        Longest one I've seen (whole episode advert):

        http://www.networkworld.com/slideshow/76223/microsoft-surface-guest-stars-on-tvs-suburgatory-honest.html

        Most annoying one so far:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyRZ03SFB68

  15. Dave 126 Silver badge

    When I was watched Blue Peter, every rocket I drew had the Stars and Stripes and a NASA logo on it, not a Union Jack... just as every car I drew had all manner of unlikely gadgets poking of it, like James Bond's. Vans looked like the one from the A-Team, and most cars had the Confederate flag on top of it like the Dukes of Hazard. The coolest electronic goods were ghetto blasters, especially if they had a massive graphic equaliser on the front- and were all designed in Asia, the best ones Japanese. Monster trucks were ace, as were Ferraris.

    Just because we grew up with cool things from other countries doesn't stop us being supportive of British companies when we grow up.

    The important thing is that Blue Peter is telling pre-teen children that there is such a thing a product designer, and they might choose to be one when they grow up. I don't know why you would want to sully their innocence with talk of corporate shenanigins, or choice of gadget OS.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Jony Ive fondly remembers making a paintbrush holder out of an old detergent bottle after watching a Blue Peter episode"

    Says it all. After all, the "i"things really do look like a five year old's drawing.

    What a wan*er!

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