Apple designer Alan Dye talks about the Apple Watch

Alan Dye talks about how the different features of the Apple Watch Series 6 are based on the design choices that Apple made in the first Apple Watch, as well as the extreme care that goes into the design of each dial.

Apple's VP of UI Design Alan Dye was a pivotal figure in Apple Watch design and has now appeared on a watch podcast to talk about its origins and how these principles still apply.

"In the beginning, we spent a lot of time thinking not only about the first version, but, of course, about how to create a design system for the Apple Watch that could be durable in the future," he says in the podcast, "Monocle on Design."

"A lot of the thoughts we had at the time were about concepts intrinsically linked to readability," he continues. “We have never worked on such a small screen. How do you manage to offer so much information on such a small screen with just one glance?

Alan Dye says this focus on readability led to a combination of what was possible with the technology and how useful it could be. Apple has spent "a lot of time looking back and learning about the history of watchmaking" and that translated specifically into the way they designed the dials.

“I think this can be seen, obviously in the first collection of spheres,” Dye says, “but also in all those that have happened since then. So we are quite proud when we look back at some of those decisions we made in the beginning and see how they have shaped the work we have done. "

Dye says Apple Watch's capabilities have evolved along the way because of the way Apple works to bring different disciplines together. "We have this amazing process at Apple where we constantly collaborate with the hardware teams, software engineering and, of course, the design studio."

“In this way, we ask for certain skills from a design point of view and at the same time we learn new skills that come from an engineering perspective,” he continues. “Our job is to constantly go back and make sure we create a user interface that is very accessible and easy to use and that - probably most important of all - displays information in the cleanest, simplest and clearest way possible. ".

Alan Dye has been a well-known design figure for decades, but since Jony Ive left Apple he has had a more public face. Along with Evans Hankey, who works on hardware design, Dye held the role of Ive at Apple.