Sebastiaan de With, cofounder of Halide maker Lux, joins beleaguered design team at Apple Park.<\/b>
\nIn summary:
Macworld reports that Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of acclaimed camera app Halide, has rejoined Apple\u2019s design team after a decade away.
This hiring addresses Apple\u2019s design team challenges 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\u2019s design team has had trouble keeping hold of key personnel. Ive\u2019s successor, Evans Hankey, herself left in 2022, and the team has also lost Marc Newson, design overseer Jeff Williams, rising star Abidur Chowdhury, and a host of lesser-known names. So it\u2019s refreshing to hear this week that a famous designer is arriving at Apple Park rather than leaving it.
Sebastiaan de With announced on his Twitter\/X account that he has joined the design team at Apple. \u201cSo excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products,\u201d he writes. There\u2019s no indication of what those favorite products might be, but we can assume he\u2019ll be on the software side; on his website, he describes himself as a human interface designer. Perhaps he\u2019ll work on Liquid Glass, although the Camera app is more likely.
Some big personal news: I\u2019ve joined the Design Team at Apple.
So excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products. \u270c\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/9gzU4ziIJ7
De With is, in fact, returning to Apple, having previously worked on Apple\u2019s early iCloud and Find My apps before leaving some 10 years ago to pursue projects of his own. He is mostly known for being the cofounder of the app developer Lux, which makes the pro camera app Halide, among others.
It\u2019s important to note that Halide, let alone Lux itself, is not part of the deal. Lux\u2019s other cofounder, Ben Sandofsky, responded to the news by posting a statement to Reddit, which includes the line \u201cHalide is going nowhere. This has been my full-time job since 2019, and I couldn\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u201d
As for de With, I can\u2019t help wondering if Apple\u2019s PR department will have a word about staying scrupulously on-message\u2026 or whether they already have. A glance at his online footprint certainly gives an impression of an Apple enthusiast (all of his iPhone reviews I looked at were overwhelmingly positive), but one who isn\u2019t afraid to make the odd snarky comment about the Crush promo or Apple\u2019s Lumon-esque \u201ccrazy culture of secrecy.\u201d But I hope not, because he\u2019s funnier than any other Apple employee I know.<\/p>\n