艾薇·羅斯的工作不光是讓科技更好看。

作為谷歌的設計大師，具體來說是負責硬件設計的副總裁，羅斯認為自己為谷歌的硬件產品注入了人性。在用戶家里（Google Home和Google Mini智能音箱）和口袋里（Pixel耳機）都能看到羅斯的審美觸覺，代表了谷歌與用戶親密相處時的形象。

不久前，在科羅拉多州阿斯彭召開的《財富》科技頭腦風暴大會上，羅素上臺發言時說：“人們覺得時尚不夠嚴肅，但并非如此。”

她指出：“很多情況下時尚都以社會趨勢為基礎，例如人們熱愛的時尚色，而且非常直觀。”

羅斯曾從事金屬器皿制作和珠寶設計，史密森尼美國藝術博物館就收藏了她的作品。她還曾在Gap、迪士尼、Old Navy、美泰、Calvin Klein和寇馳等公司負責設計事務。

羅斯說：“我覺得自己像交響樂團指揮，樂團成員非常有才華也非常多元。多元化帶來創造性。”

羅斯于2014年加入谷歌，當時的任務是讓第二代谷歌眼鏡更人性化，但最后這款產品未能進入消費品市場。隨后，谷歌把重心放在了辦公銷售上。羅斯說，在谷歌工作時常會遇到挑戰。剛進入谷歌時，她必須很費勁地適應數據驅動又挑剔的工程師文化。

她說：“設計很主觀。我認為設計是藝術和科學的結合，沒法量化。”

羅斯舉例說，表達對Google Mini外觀的看法時得說服同事們，如果加入某些獨特的美學設計，這款音箱兼虛擬助手產品就會更好。她建議谷歌用多種材料來制造Google Mini，追求“幾乎像雨花石”的手感。她說：“我真的得說服人們，費點工夫別把產品做成黑色方盒子是值得的。”

有人問未來的谷歌手機會設計成什么樣，羅斯拋出了一些吸引人的線索：“未來屬于粘土，而不是磚頭。”意思是技術將越發有適應性，而不是越來越僵化。

羅斯認為：“設備會更加多變，更加個性化，而且一定要更靈活。”

可以肯定一點，未來設計得追上人們不斷變化的時尚品味才行。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Ivy Ross does more than just make tech pretty.

Google’s design guru—technically, vice president of hardware design—would argue that she imbues the search giant’s gadgets with humanity. Her aesthetic touches, which can be seen in our homes (Google Home and Google Mini smart speakers) and our pockets (Pixel phones), embody the face of Google inside our most intimate spaces.

“People think fashion is frivolous. It’s not,” Ross said recently on stage at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo.

“It’s based oftentimes on sociological trends—the colors people are craving—and it’s very intuitive,” she said.

Ross is a former metalworker and jewelry designer whose work has been showcased in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She has held top design roles at Gap, Disney, Old Navy, Mattel, Calvin Klein, Coach, and elsewhere.

“I view myself as an orchestra conductor over a very talented and very diverse group of people,” Ross said. “Diversity leads to creativity.”

Ross joined Google in 2014 to liven up its second generation of Google Glass smart-glasses—a product that never made it to the consumer market. Instead, Google pivoted to workplace sales.

Working at Google has had its occasional challenges, Ross said. When she joined the company, she had to get used to the data-driven, fastidious engineering culture.

“Design is subjective. I believe it’s a little bit of art and science,” Ross said. “You can’t quantify it.”

When presenting her vision for the form of the Google Mini, for instance, Ross said she had to persuade her colleagues that the product—which serves as a speaker and virtual assistant—would be better if it had certain distinctive aesthetic qualities. She proposed that the company craft the speaker using multiple materials, and that it be molded so it “feels almost like a river stone” in the hand.

“I really had to convince everyone it was worth the effort to create something that’s not a black box,” Ross said.

Asked what the future of Google’s phone design will bring, Ross offered a few tantalizing clues. “The future is clay, not bricks,” Ross said, meaning that the technology will become increasingly adaptable versus static.

“Things will be more mobile and personalized,” Ross said. “We’re going to need our devices to be more flexible.”

As flexible as humanity’s ever-shifting fashion senses, to be sure.