Alan Dye: From Apple’s “Liquid Glass” Architect to Meta’s New Design Chief
Apple’s longtime design leader Alan Dye, known for shaping the “Liquid Glass” interface, is set to leave the company and join Meta in a major move that highlights the growing importance of design in AI and mixed-reality products.
Alan Dye, Apple’s head of human-interface design and the creative force behind the Liquid Glass design language, who is set to join Meta as Chief Design Officer.
There's a big shift going on in the tech design scene right now. Alan Dye has been leading human-interface design at Apple. He is set to leave the company by the end of this year. He will join Meta Platforms as their new Chief Design Officer. That starts on December 31, 2025.
Dye first came to Apple back in 2006. He shifted over to the user-interface team in 2012. Through the years, he had a key hand in some of Apple's biggest design updates. Those included the flat look that revamped iOS 7. He also worked on the UI for the iPhone X and Apple Watch. More recently, he helped with the Liquid Glass refresh. That touched iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and visionOS.
Dye took over leadership in 2015. Under him, Apple's software and hardware interfaces came together in a steady design style. It focused on things like translucency, depth, and smooth flow.
Over at Meta, Dye will run a fresh creative studio. It sits under the Reality Labs division. The studio pulls in teams from design, hardware, software, and AI. The goal is to reshape how Meta's coming consumer gadgets turn out. That covers smart glasses and VR or AR headsets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the effort wants to "merge design, fashion, and technology". It treats "intelligence" like a fresh material for design.
This switch highlights Meta's strong drive into AI-driven hardware and wearables. Apple has owned that space in design for a long time. Hiring Dye shows the wider pattern of talent moving between top tech companies. Competition heats up in AI, mixed reality, and new hardware.
At Apple, Steve Lemay will step in for Dye. Lemay is a longtime designer there. His ties to Apple go back to 1999. Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke highly of Lemay's work on interfaces over the years. He stressed Apple's ongoing push for top design standards.
People in the industry see this as bigger than just swapping people around. It points to changes in how design and user experience will play into the next tech wave. With Dye leading Meta's studio, lines between hardware, software, and AI might start to fade. That could lead to devices and platforms built on more than just power. They would lean on solid design and easy user flows too.
