Meta's Creative Studio Led by Former Apple Design Head to 'Treat Intelligence as a New Design Material'

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced plans to launch a creative studio that will be led by former Apple UI designer Alan Dye. As we learned earlier today, Dye is leaving his position as Vice President of Human Interface Design at Apple to become Meta's new chief design officer.

In a post on social media site Threads, Zuckerberg said that Meta's creative studio will merge design, fashion, and technology, while also treating intelligence as a "new design material."

The new studio will bring together design, fashion, and technology to define the next generation of our products and experiences. Our idea is to treat intelligence as a new design material and imagine what becomes possible when it is abundant, capable, and human-centered. We plan to elevate design within Meta, and pull together a talented group with a combination of craft, creative vision, systems thinking, and deep experience building iconic products that bridge hardware and software.

We're entering a new era where AI glasses and other devices will change how we connect with technology and each other. The potential is enormous, but what matters most is making these experiences feel natural and truly centered around people. With this new studio, we're focused on making every interaction thoughtful, intuitive, and built to serve people.

Meta is also hiring another Apple designer, Billy Sorrentino, who has been on Apple's human interface design team for the last 10 years. Like Dye, Sorrentino worked on Apple's iOS 26 Liquid Glass redesign.

Along with the two former Apple designers, Meta's studio will include its existing industrial design team and its metaverse design and art teams.

Meta currently sells its Quest VR headsets and AI smart glasses designed in collaboration with Ray-Ban and Oakley. Meta is aiming to expand further into hardware, and it is hard at work on a set of augmented reality glasses.

Alan Dye was one of Apple's few remaining designers that worked alongside Jony Ive. He originally joined Apple in 2006, transitioning to Ive's team in 2012 to work on iOS 7. He has been leading Apple's user interface design team since 2015, and will now start at Meta on December 31.