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Apple Hires UI Designer Who Helped Mock Up Leaked Siri Design

Tuesday December 13, 2011 11:42 am PST by Eric Slivka
University of Georgia student and user interface concept designer Jan-Michael Cart has officially announced on his new blog that he is headed to Cupertino to take a seven-month internship with Apple. Cart has gained some fame in the Apple rumor community for his ideas and concept mockups for potential iOS and Lion feature additions and enhancements.
And like that, my time has come — I am now a member of the Apple community. I will still update my website with random small portfolio additions. I will also open up the blog portion of my website to document my day-to-day happenings in Cupertino. Stay tuned!
Notably, MacRumors and Cart worked together earlier this year to create a video mockup of the "Assistant" feature for iOS that appeared a week later in the iPhone 4S as Siri. Working from our information received from a source with direct knowledge of Siri, Cart created a remarkably accurate depiction of how Siri would function.


While Cart's hiring by Apple may be a surprise to some given his role in leaking the design of Siri ahead of its public revelation, this is not the first time that Apple has drawn from what might be considered the fringes of the iOS community from Apple's point-of-view. Notably, Apple previously offered internships to Peter Hajas, developer of the jailbreak tool MobileNotifier, and Nicholas Allegra, better known as jailbreak expert Comex.

Other examples of Cart's user interface design concepts and work can be seen on his YouTube account.

[ 71 comments ]


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Avatar
SeanMcg
98 months ago

... I will also open up the blog portion of my website to document my day-to-day happenings in Cupertino. Stay tuned!...


"I'm in California"
"I just got to Cupertino"
"I got to the front door"
"I'm filling out the paperwork, including something called an NDA"
.
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.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(Seven months later)
"Had a great time. My internship just ended."
:D
Rating: 31 Votes
Avatar
Small White Car
98 months ago
Not that this isn't awesome for this guy, but I don't know that I'd use the word "hired" to describe a 7-month internship.

I mean, I'm sure he can turn this into a career at Apple if he wants to, but it's just not the word I'd use today.

And just in case I wasn't clear, I DO think this is awesome. Congrats, dude!
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
Daremo
98 months ago

umm.. that's nice. so how is this relevant to my interests?


You may get some cool new UI features because of him?
Rating: 14 Votes
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marksman
98 months ago

Again I'll reiterate (and I saw that video)

I for the life of me can't figure out why Apple would give this guy an internship, especially in UI design...nothing groundbreaking or unique in that video.

In fact, most of his work is below average or average at best.


I know I shouldn't have to ask this, but if you stay around here long enough, you are forced to ask this.

Did you watch the video Arn linked to?

Did you read the initial article? Do you have any idea what you are talking about? You don't even know WHY Apple offered him an internship.

I assume the reason most of these guys get internships is because they are still in College.
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
arn
98 months ago

I for the life of me can't figure out why Apple would give this guy an internship, especially in UI design...nothing groundbreaking or unique in that video.


the Assistant video was constrained by the reality of what Siri was supposed to look like. For his real work see //www.youtube.com/janmike34

one example

[media=youtube]Rn4wt-6KRI0[/media]

arn
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
janmike34
98 months ago
Thanks for the article MacRumors, and thanks everyone for the feedback!

Regarding the blog: I, of course, know better than that. Hence why I said "day-to-day happenings in Cupertino" rather than "Apple". The blog won't contain anything related to Apple, but more of general blogroll of things I may encounter, people I may meet, or photos I take around the city.
Rating: 7 Votes
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Daremo
98 months ago
This is very cool. I like how Apple even thinks outside the box with their hiring of employees. If this is a paid internship, it's still a hired employee, just with a intern title. Good for him!
Rating: 5 Votes
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ivladster
98 months ago
Oh! Not so fast. Apple will make you sign some documents making you not able to write or blog about your job. Don't get too comfy.
Rating: 5 Votes
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dethmaShine
98 months ago

the Assistant video was constrained by the reality of what Siri was supposed to look like. For his real work see //www.youtube.com/janmike34

one example

YouTube: video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4wt-6KRI0)

arn


I agree that his work is really good. But being very honest myself, I really think he had some information about how Siri would operate.

I mean:

- hold home button
- the exact same mic icon
- an exact pink UI overlay on the mic button
- the way Siri operates in its own view rather than some app in iOS.

I am not really trying to say that he stole it somehow, but this seems like he had some information about the product. On another note, MacRumors gearing up with him urges me to think that there's much more than meets the eye.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Reborn
98 months ago

Again I'll reiterate (and I saw that video)

I for the life of me can't figure out why Apple would give this guy an internship, especially in UI design...nothing groundbreaking or unique in that video.

In fact, most of his work is below average or average at best.


Translation would be: I'M JEALOUS.
Rating: 4 Votes

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