Steve Jobs: How to design insanely great products

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.