Meta is launching a new creative studio within its Reality Labs group and has hired longtime Apple design executive Alan Dye to run it. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed the moves in a post on Threads on Wednesday (Dec. 3).
The new studio will form “the next generation of our products and services” and welcome designers with “deep experience building iconic products that bridge hardware and software,” Zuckerberg said in a separate post.
The creative studio will also feature Billy Sorentino, another design lead from Apple, and Joshua To, who has led interface design across Reality Labs, Meta’s industrial design team, and its metaverse design and art teams, Zuckerberg said in a third post.
“We’re moving toward a world where AI glasses and other future devices will help us feel more present — with our friends, family, and the digital world.”In a fourth post, Mr. Zuckerberg added. “The opportunity is enormous, but the most important thing is that these experiences need to feel natural and human-centric.
In this new studio, we are working on developing every interaction to be thoughtful and intuitive, and to give people more of what they want from their relationships.”
According to his LinkedIn, Alan Dye joined Apple in 2006 and was named the company’s Design Studio Lead in 2015. In that role, Alan Dye “influenced the evolution” of all significant software platforms for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, and Vision Pro over that span of time, the profile says.
“Introduced years of Apple’s design language, up to and including Liquid Glass, that not only changes the look of all Apple products, but changed how people input and interact with all platforms,” Alan Dye’s profile read.
Introduced in June, Liquid Glass is Apple’s new transparent material for its devices, coupled with a software design that spans across the company’s products, according to an Apple press release at the time. Apple will replace Alan Dye with its veteran designer, Stephen Lemay, Bloomberg said on Wednesday.
“Steve Lemay has been an influential figure in the design of every Apple interface for nearly all of their major products since 1999,” said Apple CEO in a statement issued to Bloomberg. “He’s always set the bar incredibly high — to the level of quality and design,” she said, “and set an example for Apple’s culture of collaboration and excellence.”
