Jony Ive Shares Design Insights at London's Design Museum [Video]

Jony Ive made a public appearance last night at London's Design Museum to discuss design and the design process at Apple. Ive shared with the audience different tips and secrets on design that contributed to his success at Apple.

Here are some of the highlights from Ive's talk with the museum's director:

User Experience
Why is it when we have a bad experience with a product, we assume it is us (the user), but a bad experience with food, we blame the food?!


Value
What we make testifies who we are. People can sense care and can sense carelessness. This relates to respect for each other and carelessness is personally offensive.

Design
Make each product the best it can be. Focus on form and materials. What we don’t include is as important as what we do include.

Ideas and Creativity
The best ideas start as conversations. A small change at the beginning of the design process defines an entirely different product at the end. At the start of the process the idea is just a thought- very fragile and exclusive. When the first physical manifestation is created everything changes. It is no longer exclusive, now it involves a lot of people. To do something innovative means that you reject reason. It’s our human condition: when you see potent phenomenal technology you want to make it smaller cheaper better more reliable

Motivation at Apple
There is a clear goal and it isn’t to make money. The goal is to desperately try to make the best products we can. We are not naive – if you trust it, people like it, they buy it and we make money. This is a consequence.


Education
It is sad that so many designers don’t know how to make. CAD software can make a bad design look palatable! It is sad that four years can be spent on a 3D design course without making anything! People who are great at designing and making have a great advantage.

Failing
Shouldn’t be afraid to fail- if we are not failing we are not pushing. 80% in the studio is not going to work. If something is not good enough, stop doing it.

Design Theft
Eight years of work can be copied in six months. It wasn’t inevitable that it was going to work. A stolen design is stolen time. Is it flattering?… No

Creating New and Different Ideas
We wont be different for different’s sake. Different is easy… make it pink and fluffy!! Better is harder. Making something different often has a marketing and corporate agenda. When big things change (like displays go away or voice control takes over) make it different.

Challenges in Software Design
Design is design. The media is different and there is a lot to learn but the design principles are always relevant.

Ive ended the talk by highlighting three key concepts designers should take away, including 1) learn how to care, 2) learn how to focus, and 3) be prepared to screw up and throw things away.

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