Design Is How It Works

Steve Jobs was quoted as saying “Design is how it works.” Design is not a step in the process to make it look nice after it’s already been built, but an imbuing process that happens as a matter of course. In that way design is substantial and not a gimmick or afterthought.

According to Creative Selection, this was a mantra repeated often during the building of the iPhone. In order for the whole product to be really great, how it worked and every little decision needed to be thoughtfully designed.

See also:

• Taste is the refined sense of judgement and finding balance that produces a pleasing and integrated whole

Links to this note

• Taste Is the Refined Sense of Judgment and Finding Balance That Produces a Pleasing and Integrated Whole

  Having ‘good taste’ is difficult to define. Taste is subjective, it is only confirmed by assent from others (from Immanual Kant) a kind of determinate negation.

• Every UI Decision Is a Value

  Values of a community or organization are embedded in every UI decision. There is a difference in values when a company’s homepage touts their biggest sales or a stream of every transaction. Whether or not they meant it, it’s still an artifact of values.

• Products Are Promises

  A products is not just collection of features, but a promise to solve a problem or enhance the customer’s life in some material way. Faithfully delivering on a promise makes for a great product. Failing to deliver on a promise makes for a flimsy product.

• The Infinite Butler Problem

  Conventional wisdom says you should do one thing and do it really well. Customers however, can only bear so many different tools before the fragmentation makes it harder to solve their problem.