Meta Poaches Apple Design Exec Alan Dye
- Reference: 0180280727
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/04/057208/meta-poaches-apple-design-exec-alan-dye
- Source link:
> Shortly after the news broke of Dye's departure, Zuckerberg [3]announced a new creative studio within Reality Labs that would be led by Dye. There, he'll be joined by Billy Sorrentino, another former Apple designer who led interface design across Reality Labs; Joshua To, who led interface design across Reality Labs; Meta's industrial design team, led by Pete Bristol; and its metaverse design and art teams led by Jason Rubin.
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> Zuckerberg said the studio would "bring together design, fashion, and technology to define the next generation of our products and experiences." "Our idea is to treat intelligence as a new design material and imagine what becomes possible when it is abundant, capable, and human-centered," the Meta CEO wrote on Threads. "We plan to elevate design within Meta, and pull together a talented group with a combination of craft, creative vision, systems thinking, and deep experience building iconic products that bridge hardware and software."
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/03/meta-poaches-apple-design-exec-alan-dye-to-lead-new-creative-studio-in-reality-labs/
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-03/apple-design-executive-alan-dye-poached-by-meta-in-major-coup
[3] https://www.threads.com/@zuck/post/DR0Wsy0EhCP
'Poaches'....Apple apparently happy about this (Score:3)
[1]Should you choose to believe the gossip [9to5mac.com], this is apparently being seen as a good thing amongst Apple's staff.
Seems to be a case of the Gene Wilder's Wonka scene "oh no, stop!" while doing nothing to actually stop it.
[1] https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/04/gruber-apple-employees-giddy-about-alan-dyes-departure/
Re: (Score:3)
I don't deal with any of these people, but the people I do deal with said that apparently Dye and his co-horts are not well liked. Different from the love hate relationship that people had with people like Jobs/Ives/etc.
John Gruber is thrilled (Score:4, Insightful)
Gruber is probably the best connected of those who blog on Apple. See [1]https://daringfireball.net/202... [daringfireball.net]
Alan Dye is not untalented. But his talents at Apple were in politics. His political skill was so profound that it was his decision to leave, despite the fact that his tenure is considered a disaster by actual designers inside and outside the company. He obviously figured out how to please Apple’s senior leadership. His departure today landed as a total surprise because his stature within the company seemed so secure. And so I think he might do very well at Meta. Not because he can bring world-class interaction design expertise—because he obviously can’t—but because the path to success at Meta has never been driven by design. It’s about getting done what Zuck wants done. Dye might excel at that. Dye was an anchor holding Apple back, but might elevate design at Meta.
(Personally, I think anyone who would go to work for Zuckerberg/Meta is someone I'm glad is not remaining at Apple. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out.")
[1] https://daringfireball.net/2025/12/bad_dye_job
Re: (Score:2)
> (Personally, I think anyone who would go to work for Zuckerberg/Meta is someone I'm glad is not remaining at Apple. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out.")
If Zuckerberg rolled a truck full of money to my house to change jobs, I wouldn't say no. I would however take the attitude of Peter Gibbons from Office Space though: Cleaning fish at my desk, etc.
It won't matter (Score:2)
Meta's primary method for revenue is controlling users and serving them ads. I predict that they won't be able to understand hardware enough because they are so focused on other things. Making their products shiny won't give them an edge over apple, which protects users and their data to some extent (at least from other companies, so they can have all the data for themselves).
Rolls eyes (Score:3)
God I can't stand designer bullshit speak. You can take your "design language" and cram it up your ass.
Re: (Score:2)
Design language is a thing and has been since an industrial designer was an occupation. It encompasses the looks of something - like how John Deere equipment is green and yellow in particular ways. Apple had several design languages - anyone in the 90s is familiar with the Platinum design that encompassed the colors of the computers as well as the lines on the case.
It's also how you can tell a ThinkPad laptop even though they've been through different owners and many generations of computers.
It plays a much
Re: (Score:2)
Sure it plays an important role. The problem with it is that the meta-language of modern techology design is enshittification.
Re: (Score:2)
Well it was pulled out of someone's ass, so it will fit right back in...