While you may be looking forward to Apple’s rumored VR headset in the coming months or an Apple Watch Series 9 as we approach the fall, the company’s ex-head designer has been busy designing a red nose.
For those unaware, Red Nose Day (opens in new tab) by Comic Relief (opens in new tab) is an event held in the UK since 1988 that aims to help those in poverty worldwide. The charity was created by Richard Curtis, a writer responsible for films and TV shows such as Notting Hill and Love Actually, alongside Lenny Henry, an actor, and comedian well-known in the UK.
While it was held every two years until 2022, it’s now a yearly event. It takes over the programming on the UK BBC One channel (opens in new tab), where funny sketches and catch-ups on challenges held by celebrities and others are broadcast until the late hours of the evening in the UK.
Every year, there is also a red nose that you can buy and wear to show your support for the charity and the day itself. For 2023, ex-Apple head designer Sir Jony Ive was asked to create a new red nose, and we decided to do an unboxing and hands-on impression of it.
Where has Ive been since leaving Apple?
In charge of creating the look of the first iMac in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and many other Apple products during his tenure, Sir Jony Ive was Steve Jobs’ right-hand man.
Whether in design or how you unboxed it, you always knew it was an Ive and Jobs project. Together, they created much of what makes Apple Apple today, forming much of the foundation for products that are on shelves right now.
With Job’s untimely death in 2011, Ive had to take more responsibility at Apple. That meant he had more say in the software side of things, eventually resulting in the flat design of iOS 7 in 2013. Ive left in 2019 to start his own company, called LoveFrom (opens in new tab), a consulting design company that helped Apple with certain products One such product was the M1 iMac and its incredibly thin design, although the partnership came to an end in 2022.
The new red nose is an example of Ive’s efforts at LoveFrom, allowing him to create and design products that he wouldn’t have been able to do if he was still at Apple full-time.
Wearable of the year?
Available for $2.99 / £2.50 (opens in new tab), all of the Red Nose’s proceeds go directly to the charity. It arrives in a crescent-shaped box, and all you need to do is pull the small tag off to the side.
Once pulled all the way around, the case pops open like a book, and the folded nose suddenly appears in its honeycomb-paper mold. There’s a nice feeling of satisfaction as you grab the flat crescent and fold it around to make it into a fully-formed sphere.
You almost don’t want to press on the nose too hard to avoid damaging the honeycomb pattern, but you may have to once it’s on your nose, and you need to adjust the fit.
As soon as you’re wearing it, though, it’s comfortable and even has that ‘new car smell’ we’re all familiar with. It reminded me of the same exciting new product smell wafting from my nose when I unboxed my old iPod Video from 2005..
Wearing it around the house, my dog Jolly thought it was something for him to catch at first, but he soon got used to my new look.
Overall, the design certainly has that Jony Ive look and feel that we all have become accustomed to ever since the first bondi-blue iMac arrived back in 1998.
This is definitely something you don’t need to wait on its second generation for – it’s got great build quality, is made from over 95% of plant-based materials, and all the features you were hoping for are here.
While you may be looking forward to Apple’s rumored VR headset in the coming months or an Apple Watch Series 9 as we approach the fall, the company’s ex-head designer has been busy designing a red nose.
For those unaware, Red Nose Day (opens in new tab) by Comic Relief (opens in new tab) is an event held in the UK since 1988 that aims to help those in poverty worldwide. The charity was created by Richard Curtis, a writer responsible for films and TV shows such as Notting Hill and Love Actually, alongside Lenny Henry, an actor, and comedian well-known in the UK.
While it was held every two years until 2022, it’s now a yearly event. It takes over the programming on the UK BBC One channel (opens in new tab), where funny sketches and catch-ups on challenges held by celebrities and others are broadcast until the late hours of the evening in the UK.
Every year, there is also a red nose that you can buy and wear to show your support for the charity and the day itself. For 2023, ex-Apple head designer Sir Jony Ive was asked to create a new red nose, and we decided to do an unboxing and hands-on impression of it.
Where has Ive been since leaving Apple?
In charge of creating the look of the first iMac in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and many other Apple products during his tenure, Sir Jony Ive was Steve Jobs’ right-hand man.
Whether in design or how you unboxed it, you always knew it was an Ive and Jobs project. Together, they created much of what makes Apple Apple today, forming much of the foundation for products that are on shelves right now.
With Job’s untimely death in 2011, Ive had to take more responsibility at Apple. That meant he had more say in the software side of things, eventually resulting in the flat design of iOS 7 in 2013. Ive left in 2019 to start his own company, called LoveFrom (opens in new tab), a consulting design company that helped Apple with certain products One such product was the M1 iMac and its incredibly thin design, although the partnership came to an end in 2022.
The new red nose is an example of Ive’s efforts at LoveFrom, allowing him to create and design products that he wouldn’t have been able to do if he was still at Apple full-time.
Wearable of the year?
Available for $2.99 / £2.50 (opens in new tab), all of the Red Nose’s proceeds go directly to the charity. It arrives in a crescent-shaped box, and all you need to do is pull the small tag off to the side.
Once pulled all the way around, the case pops open like a book, and the folded nose suddenly appears in its honeycomb-paper mold. There’s a nice feeling of satisfaction as you grab the flat crescent and fold it around to make it into a fully-formed sphere.
You almost don’t want to press on the nose too hard to avoid damaging the honeycomb pattern, but you may have to once it’s on your nose, and you need to adjust the fit.
As soon as you’re wearing it, though, it’s comfortable and even has that ‘new car smell’ we’re all familiar with. It reminded me of the same exciting new product smell wafting from my nose when I unboxed my old iPod Video from 2005..
Wearing it around the house, my dog Jolly thought it was something for him to catch at first, but he soon got used to my new look.
Overall, the design certainly has that Jony Ive look and feel that we all have become accustomed to ever since the first bondi-blue iMac arrived back in 1998.
This is definitely something you don’t need to wait on its second generation for – it’s got great build quality, is made from over 95% of plant-based materials, and all the features you were hoping for are here.