Don’t bother asking Freddy Anzures about the technological gadgets he’s working on at Apple these days. A designer for the computer company since 2004, Anzures has helped create the look of everything from icons on the Mac’s desktop to Dashboard widgets (mini software applications that look like real objects). Most recently, he joined the Apple team that created iPhone, which debuted to the tune of 200,000 first-day sales. So for corporate secrecy’s sake, mum’s the word on Anzures’ current projects.
Apple, however, is the last thing Anzures, a 1999 industrial design graduate, would want to discuss anyway. He’d rather tell you about the Bay Area flea market he frequents for vintage furniture, books, and records; or his gig designing sleeves for a local record label; or even being a DJ. Quite frankly, work isn’t his be-all, end-all. “The more you live, the better you’ll design,” he says.
Anzures, 31, took that adage to heart during his time at Carnegie Mellon. After a stressful junior year, Anzures took a year off to discover what he wanted to do professionally. He spent six months interning at Converse outside Boston, creating color and texture proposals for the classic canvas footwear, followed by another internship designing housewares in New York City. While footwear and kitchen goods didn’t inspire him, the disparate work experiences did give him a renewed sense of purpose when he returned to Carnegie Mellon.
“The intention I had was to be a creative problem solver, not a particular kind of designer,” he says. “I’m still working toward that.” —Gaetano Pollice
