Former Apple design chief Jony Ive emphasized the power of imagination and innovation in a virtual commencement address to graduating students from the California College of the Arts.
“Without imagination, without profoundly new thinking, and potent ideas, our practice has no purpose,” Ive said in a stylized video against a black background.
In his 15-minute address to the California College of the Arts’ Class of 2021, he told the graduates to believe in themselves and stressed the importance of art and ideas.
He also addressed the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected the college experience.
“This is quite obviously not the traditional graduation ceremony,” Ive said. “Everyone is watching this on a screen, including me, which is quite odd. We should be together. We should be able to feel your excitement and pride. We should be able to share in your joy and in your remarkable achievement. I imagine that many of you are with people who love you and are proud of you, and that is what really matters. This gathering of family, friends, teachers and faculty, are all here to celebrate you; the graduating class of 2021.”
Nick Knight directed Ive’s commencement speech, and you can watch the whole thing online. The black backdrop is a vivid departure from the iconic white background employed in Ive’s Apple videos.
Apple commencement addresses
Coinciding with his commencement address, Ive received a CCA 2021 Honorary Doctorate Degree for his work.
The designer tends to keep a reasonably low profile since leaving Apple in 2019. After his departure, he founded the design firm LoveFrom with Marc Newson. One of their first publicly announced clients was Airbnb.
Ive isn’t the first name associated with Apple to give a commencement address. Steve Jobs set the gold standard with his Stanford commencement address in 2005. But Apple CEO Tim Cook quickly became a regular on the commencement address circuit as well.
In recent years, Cook delivered graduation speeches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his former alma mater Duke University, and George Washington, Stanford, Tulane and Ohio State universities.
What do you think of Ive’s 2021 commencement address for the California College of the Arts? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Via: Show Studio
