The house of One is one member shorter as former HTC design chief Jonah Becker is now at Fitbit, reports Recode.
Becker partnered up with Scott Croyle and Claude Zellweger to create One & Co., a design firm that worked on projects for Adidas, Nike, The North Face, and Burton Snowboards. They all joined HTC six years ago when One & Co. was scooped up by the Taiwanese company.
Becker and Zellweger stepped up to fill the void created when Croyle, who served as senior VP and head of product design, left last year. Becker followed suit on March 27, when he announced his departure. We now learn that he will begin reporting to Fitbit CEO James Park as the company’s vice president of industrial design, a recently-created position.
During Becker’s 11-month stint with HTC, he oversaw development of several HTC products, most notably the HTC One M9. When we reviewed the handset last month, we thought the design took a step back from its predecessor, the HTC One M8, though we also called it one of the most attractive smartphones on the market.
Whether Becker can bring some sizzle to Fitbit’s product line remains to be seen. Subjectively, Fitbit’s activity trackers have looked more functional than stylish over the years, and the firm’s creation of a lead designer position effectively proves it will focus more on design moving forward.
On the flip side, HTC is going through a bit of a rough patch in terms of its talent, with Becker representing the second chief designer to leave in less than a year, along with an executive reshuffle that saw Cher Wang officially occupy the company’s CEO position.
