Steve Jobs on Design

Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like… People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

— Steve Jobs, The New York Times, 2003

I post this not because I like Apple products, but because it’s true (and because I like Apple products). I’m no designer, but as a statistician, I have tremendous respect for those who are. Have a nice weekend all.

[via swissmiss]

2 Comments

  • The best products don’t need an instruction manual, because they do exactly what you wanted them to in exactly the way you would imagine.
    Since you can only serve a majority this way, I assume there were some design choices made tough by some outlying users’ understanding. Or maybe that’s when you return to the drawing board. In fact, I wonder what the threshold is for feature intuitiveness over there?