Read the following case scenario and answer the questions that follow. Apple’s Design Process No discussion of innovation and design would be complete without examining BusinessWeek’s perennial “No. 1 Most Innovative Company,” Apple. Both Apple’s product and service design prowess are legendary. Michael Lopp, senior engineering manager at Apple, describes his company’s approach to design as delivering a series of presents to the customer, “really good ideas wrapped up in other really good ideas” (i.e., pioneering software in elegant hardware in beautiful packaging) to replicate that Christmas morning experience. Apple moves fast, constantly innovates, and is never satisfied. More than understanding customer needs, they anticipate what will delight customers in the future. Although Apple has received many design accolades, little is known about their design process. Four of their techniques, presented below, were revealed during a panel discussion at a recent SXSW (South-by-Southwest) Interactive Conference. Pixel Perfect Mockups Detailed mockups (e.g., prototypes) take a long time to construct but prevent misunderstandings and mistakes later on in the process. 10 to 3 to 1 Designers create ten completely different detailed mock-ups which are then reduced to three. After several more months of work, those three are reduced to one final design. Not many companies would be willing to discard 90% of their design work to come up with the perfect design. Paired Design Meetings Every week the engineers and designers have two meetings—a brainstorming meeting with no-holds-barred free thinking, and a production meeting to critique ideas and decide how to make them work. This continues throughout the development process. It is highly unusual to encourage creative thinking in the later stages of a design, or to start over when better ideas are generated, something CEO Steve Jobs has been known to do. Pony Meetings Top managers are famous for the “I want a pony” syndrome of pie-in-the-sky ideas. Design teams have regular meetings with execs to inform them of pony status and to keep them in the loop during the design process. This eliminates surprises and disappointments later on. The Apple design team of 20 people is quite small, with an international flair of German, British, New Zealand, and Italian designers, in addition to U.S. designers. Design chief Jonathan Ives prefers to invest his dollars in state-of the-art prototyping equipment rather than large numbers of people. However, these designers work closely with engineers, marketers, and manufacturing contractors in Asia who actually build the products. Not surprisingly, Apple is a leading innovator in materials, tooling, and manufacturing technology such as injection molding, as well as electronic technology. Apple gloats that it does no market research, nor does it spread risk by diversifying its products. Instead Apple concentrates its resources on just a few products and makes them extremely well. They use their own technology and take the time to immerse themselves in the user experience. The process begins by asking, “What do we hate? What do we have the technology to do? What would we like to own?” Meticulous designers take it from there—designers who dream up products so ingenious that whole industries are upended. Describe Apple-designed products which you find special as a consumer? Explain why have no competitors caught up with Apple? Do you think Apple can sustain its success with so few products? What would you ask Apple to design next and why?
Read the following case scenario and answer the questions that follow.
Apple’s Design Process
No discussion of innovation and design would be complete without examining BusinessWeek’s perennial “No. 1 Most Innovative Company,” Apple. Both Apple’s product and service design prowess are legendary. Michael Lopp, senior engineering manager at Apple, describes his company’s approach to design as delivering a series of presents to the customer, “really good ideas wrapped up in other really good ideas” (i.e., pioneering software in elegant hardware in beautiful packaging) to replicate that Christmas morning experience. Apple moves fast, constantly innovates, and is never satisfied. More than understanding customer needs, they anticipate what will delight customers in the future. Although Apple has received many design accolades, little is known about their design process. Four of their techniques, presented below, were revealed during a panel discussion at a recent SXSW (South-by-Southwest) Interactive Conference.
Pixel Perfect Mockups Detailed mockups (e.g., prototypes) take a long time to construct but prevent misunderstandings and mistakes later on in the process. 10 to 3 to 1 Designers create ten completely different detailed mock-ups which are then reduced to three. After several more months of work, those three are reduced to one final design. Not many companies would be willing to discard 90% of their design work to come up with the perfect design.
Paired Design Meetings Every week the engineers and designers have two meetings—a brainstorming meeting with no-holds-barred free thinking, and a production meeting to critique ideas and decide how to make them work. This continues throughout the development process. It is highly unusual to encourage creative thinking in the later stages of a design, or to start over when better ideas are generated, something CEO Steve Jobs has been known to do.
Pony Meetings Top managers are famous for the “I want a pony” syndrome of pie-in-the-sky ideas. Design teams have regular meetings with execs to inform them of pony status and to keep them in the loop during the design process. This eliminates surprises and disappointments later on. The Apple design team of 20 people is quite small, with an international flair of German, British, New Zealand, and Italian designers, in addition to U.S. designers. Design chief Jonathan Ives prefers to invest his dollars in state-of the-art prototyping equipment rather than large numbers of people. However, these designers work closely with engineers, marketers, and manufacturing contractors in Asia who actually build the products. Not surprisingly, Apple is a leading innovator in materials, tooling, and manufacturing technology such as injection molding, as well as electronic technology.
Apple gloats that it does no
- Describe Apple-designed products which you find special as a consumer?
- Explain why have no competitors caught up with Apple? Do you think Apple can sustain its success with so few products?
- What would you ask Apple to design next and why?
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