Famous app designer returns to Apple in much-needed win for Cupertino
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld reports that Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of popular photo app Halide, has joined Apple’s design team after a decade away.
- The hire responds to challenges facing Apple’s design team following high-profile departures since Jony Ive left the company.
- De With is expected to focus on software design, potentially improving the Camera app, while Halide continues under co-founder Ben Sandofsky.
Since Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, the company’s design team has struggled to retain key staff. Ive’s successor, Evans Hankey, herself left in 2022, and the team also lost Marc Newson, design supervisor Jeff Williams, rising star Abidur Chowdhury and a host of lesser-known names. So it’s refreshing to learn this week that a famous designer is coming to Apple Park rather than leaving it.
Sebastiaan de With announced on his Twitter/X account that he had joined Apple’s design team. “I’m so excited to work with the best team in the world on my favorite products,” he wrote. There’s no indication as to what those preferred products might be, but we can assume it will be on the software side; on his website he describes himself as a human interface designer. Perhaps it will work on Liquid Glass, although the Camera app is more likely.
De With is actually returning to Apple, having worked on Apple’s early iCloud and Find My apps before leaving about a decade ago to pursue his own projects. He is best known for being the co-founder of app developer Lux, which creates, among other things, the professional camera app Halide.
It’s important to note that Halide, much less Lux himself, is not part of the deal. Lux’s other co-founder, Ben Sandofsky, responded to the news by posting a statement on Reddit, which includes the line “Halide isn’t going anywhere. It’s been my full-time job since 2019, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
As for de With, I can’t help but wonder if Apple’s PR department will have a word on the need to stick to the message scrupulously… or if they already have. A glance at his online footprint certainly gives the impression of an Apple enthusiast (all of his iPhone reviews I looked at were overwhelmingly positive), but one who isn’t afraid to make snide comments about the Crush promo or Apple’s Lumon-style “crazy culture of secrecy.” But I hope not, because he’s funnier than any other Apple employee I know.
