Steve Jobs: How to design insanely great products
by Joe · 36 things on Twos
- Design Philosophy:
- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
- If users need a manual, the design has failed
- Eliminate unnecessary buttons, features, and complexity
- Focus on making the product intuitive and obvious to use
- Question everything about the current design
- Challenge every assumption about how things "should" be
- Think different - break from conventional wisdom when necessary
- User Experience:
- Start with the user experience, then work backwards to the technology
- Design is not just how it looks, but how it works
- Every interaction should feel magical and delightful
- The best interface is no interface - make technology invisible
- Perfection in details matters
- Obsess over every pixel, every corner, every transition
- The parts you can't see should be as beautiful as the parts you can
- Quality must go all the way through
- Innovation:
- Create products people don't know they need yet
- Don't rely on market research - show people the future
- If you ask customers what they want, they'll say "better horses"
- True innovation means seeing what others can't see
- Integration of hardware and software
- Great experiences come from controlling the entire stack
- Everything must work together seamlessly
- Don't compromise the vision by relying on others' components
- Product Development:
- Say no to 1,000 things
- Focus is about saying no to good ideas
- Do a few things exceptionally well rather than many things adequately
- Kill projects that don't meet the highest standards
- Prototype and iterate
- Make real working models, not just drawings
- Keep refining until it feels absolutely right
- Don't be afraid to restart if it's not perfect