• Trained By The Best: Facebook And J.C. Penney Hire Apple Design Execs

    Rip Empson

    Rip Empson is a writer and rabble-rouser at TechCrunch. He covers startups. Why? Because some of those startups are the next Googles, Facebooks and Twitters of the world, they just can’t afford the office space yet. Plus, entrepreneurs tend to be more insane (and interesting) than the average human. Within the Whacky World Of Startups, Rip focuses on music,... → Learn More

    Thursday, April 26th, 2012
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    So, in case you haven’t heard, Apple is doing pretty well. Things are different now without Steve at the helm, but change isn’t always bad. Although George Colony, taking the contrarian approach, would like to disagree.

    Today, we’ve gotten word that Apple Senior Art Director Sharon Hwang, who headed the graphics design team, has left Apple to join Facebook’s product design team. Though it looks like Hwang joined Facebook last month, the Facebook Design Team officially announced her hiring today on their Facebook page.

    Prior to joining Facebook and Apple, the designer was the Art Director at Stockholm Design Lab for two and a half years, and prior to that was a graphic designer at Pentagram.

    We’ve also learned today that Benjamin Fay, Apple’s Senior Director of Retail Real Estate, Design and Development has left the company and will be headed to J.C. Penney. Fay has been at Apple for eight years, working as the head of retail store design and planning. The former senior director is the second senior Apple executive for leave for J.C. Penney in the last 6 months.

    Fay will report to J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson, who it just so happens left Apple for J.C. Penney in November. Johnson was the former Senior VP of Retail Operations at Apple, and both he and Fay had a lot to do with making the Apple Store, well, the Apple Store.

    Fay will join J.C. Penney as the EVP of real estate, store design and development. According to a statement released by J.C. Penney, Fay will be leading the design of the company’s new retail stores, assisting Johnson as part of an initiative in which the company will “create an entirely new interface for retail.” Obviously big things to come for J.C. Penney retail, with their new look being led by two of the guys most closely behind the design and expansion of Apple Stores across the world.


    Company: Apple
    Website: apple.com
    Launch Date: April 1, 1976
    IPO: NASDAQ:AAPL

    Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...

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    Company: Facebook
    Website: facebook.com
    Launch Date: February 1, 2004
    IPO: NASDAQ:FB

    Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks. The original...

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