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Apple has announced that Jony Ive, who has long been the company's Senior Vice President of Design, has been promoted to the newly-created role of Chief Design Officer.

The new position, which Ive will take up on June 1, will broaden Ive's design duties at Apple and give him the opportunity to work on projects like Apple Campus 2 and its iconic retail stores. However, Ive's managerial duties will be passed on.

Richard Howarth, who has been a part of the iPhone design team since the original model was in development, becomes Apple's new Vice President of Industrial Design. Alan Dye, who was part of the design team that overhauled iOS 7, becomes the new Vice President of User Interface Design.

The changes, which were announced with an exclusive interview in The Telegraph by Stephen Fry, friend of Apple and Ive, will give Ive more time to travel and oversee a broader range of Apple design projects. Fry writes:

Jony's signature will be everywhere. The oak chairs, the desks which people can raise or lower with little buttons… I wonder if there is another company in the world whose lead designer fashions the patio furniture used by the employees, the vitrines in the retail outlets, the flow of an image swiped on a screen, the bevelling and sweep of the curve of a telephone and the packaging of a watch strap.

In an email to Apple employees obtained by 9to5Mac, CEO Tim Cook said, "Jony is one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation, with an astonishing 5000 design and utility patents to his name. His new role is a reflection of the scope of work he has been doing at Apple for some time."

Ive will focus entirely on current design projects, new ideas, and future initiatives, Cook added. While he may spend less time at Apple HQ, then, he'll certainly have a bigger role to play in shaping the face and the future of everything Apple.