Apple’s Lead Industrial Designer Evans Hankey, Jony Ive’s Replacement, To Leave

Evans Hankey, Apple’s head of hardware products, is making her exit from the Cupertino tech giant. Hankey was appointed as the successor of former design chief Jony Ive when he left to open his own multidisciplinary creative firm, and has filled in the role for three years.

Bloomberg was first to report that Hankey, currently the vice president of industrial design, told employees she will stick around for the next six months to help the company with the transition.

Apple has not identified anyone who will replace Hankey at the moment.

For the most part, Hankey has chosen to keep a low profile. She is much more visible within the company, where she leads dozens of industrial designers.

Hankey previously worked under the leadership of Ive. When he left, she took over as industrial design VP. She oversees the quality of Apple’s devices and strategies to manufacture products at a large scale, among other things, and works closely with human interface design VP Alan Dye. Both Hankey and Dye report to chief operating officer Jeff Williams.

9to5Mac reports that one potential successor for Hankey could be Richard Howarth, who had served as Apple’s industrial design VP from 2015 to 2017 at the time Ive was named Chief Design Officer.

In Ive’s goodbye statement, he called Hankey, Dye, and Williams his “closest friends.”

“The team will certainly thrive under the excellent leadership of [them], who have been among my closest collaborators,” Ive said then.

It’s unclear what’s next for Hankey, and whether she’ll start an independent firm herself.

Confirming Hankey’s exit, a spokesperson for Apple tells members of the press: “Apple’s design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple. The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience. Evans plans to stay on as we work through the transition, and we’d like to thank her for her leadership and contributions.”

[via 9to5Mac, CNBC, Bloomberg, cover photo 46860455 © Maislam | Dreamstime.com]