Decoding Apple’s Design Philosophy

iPhone, MacBook, iPod, Apple Watch, iPad… these are feel-good products that also have the highest standard of engineering possible. So, the question is, what makes a great product so great?

I recently finished reading “Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs”. The author, Ken Kocienda – a former Apple engineer – provides an insider’s perspective of Apple’s engineering and design processes under the tenure of Steve Jobs. 

Kocienda reveals how the company’s design ethos helped them create products that changed the world (think the Macintosh, iPod & iPhone). At Apple, they were constantly thinking about what goes into building products, and what makes some more “magical” than others.

In this blog post, I’ve aimed to unpack what goes into this “magic” – using Apple as a key use-case. Kocienda provides insights that are truly relevant to our journey at PYGIO, providing a roadmap for building world-class products which I believe we can learn from. Below, I’ve laid out three key insights from the book that stuck with me, which are relevant to us at this stage in our business. I’ve shared them with you in the hopes you find them as insightful as I did.

Between two worlds

The key theme throughout the book was Apple’s philosophy of being at the intersection of technology and liberal arts. This philosophy was famously coined and emphasised by Steve Jobs himself, who believed that the best products come from the marriage of both technical excellence and artistic expression.

This approach meant that Apple’s products were not just about engineering and technology but also about understanding human nature, culture, and aesthetics (they literally had a team called HIG – the Human Interface Group). By combining the technical prowess of engineering with the creativity, empathy, and insight from the humanities, Apple sought to create products that were not only technologically cutting-edge but also beautifully designed and user-friendly. 

“The best products come from the marriage of both technical excellence and artistic expression.”

An interesting insight was that, when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he dismantled the Advanced Technology Group, Apple’s siloed R&D team, which focused on various “cutting-edge projects and technologies”. He believed that your product teams are at the cutting edge, and are performing R&D on a daily basis. So do we.

This insight resounds with PYGIO’s core belief – of living at the intersection. Ours is slightly different though, being at the confluence of Design, Data Science & Engineering. Through this, we aim to cultivate an atmosphere that fosters cross-pollination between multi-disciplinary teams, sparking products that feel great to use and are functionally superior.

A core part of our approach is the fact that our teams are involved in all stages of every project, from ideation to delivery. For example, its proven worthwhile having Data Scientists inform the Engineering & Design teams of long-tail use-cases that could be capitalised on – albeit far down the line – at the initial design phase. Including this orthogonal perspective when architecting the front (and back)-ends unlocks downstream value in the form of less technical debt and reduced long-term development effort. This approach may seem counter-intuitive, and possibly inefficient, but has certainly paid dividends in our experience.

Demo or Die

The book’s title, “Creative Selection” refers to the iterative and selective process Apple used to generate and refine ideas: what they phrased as the “Demo or Die” philosophy.

If you believed you had a good idea, you’d show your team what you meant.

This approach demanded that team members build working prototypes to showcase their ideas and then selecting the best among them through a series of reviews and improvements. No “whiteboarding sessions” or “team brainstorming weekends away”. If you believed you had a good idea, you’d show your team what you meant. This approach ensured that ideas were evaluated based on their real-world functionality rather than abstract concepts. 

At PYGIO, we’ve learnt the power of practical demonstrations – being a key requirement in all our work. At this point, we practically live in Figma! This ensures our teams start every new conversation with the same exact context – usually a mock-up or UI Flow. From there, building a live prototype is unambiguous and rapid – allowing development teams to deliver the exact end-product that was intended. Demoing also allows for more practical and direct discussions around the relative trade-offs that would affect the end-user experience, such as placing a button here, or moving the search bar there. We’ve learnt that tangible demos are the ultimate form of communication when building a product – and we strive to use them as much as possible in our daily workflows.

Iterate and Improve

Continual iteration and refinement are critical components of any successful design process. Apple, under Jobs, adopted this as a part of their core strategy, constantly working to refine and perfect their products. 

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs

Kocienda recounts the development of the first iPhone keyboard, his most significant project at Apple (he was the only engineer on the keyboard – including dictionary and autocorrect – at the time. Crazy!). He explains that the keyboard went through hundreds (literally) of iterations, with the team constantly tweaking and refining it based on feedback and testing. This “demo-feedback-iterate” cycle was a staple of Apple’s design process, and it’s one of the reasons their products had such a polished feel.

At PYGIO, we’ve adopted a similar philosophy of continual improvement. We understand that the first version of a product or feature is rarely the best one (we try to follow the “embarrassment test” outlined by Eric Ries in the Lean Startup for when a product is MVP-ready). Iteration must also involve client feedback at every step of the way – ensuring a closed feedback loop – and that the final product aligns with their vision. As Jobs said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” At PYGIO, we aim to create solutions that not only look good but that also work beautifully. This comes through continual improvement through iteration and feedback loops.

Final note

At Apple, they constantly challenged themselves to improve the way they built and created. “Creative Selection” shows us that building world-class products requires a unique blend of engineering prowess, design sensitivity, and relentless hard work. By combining these processes, Apple was able to build products that exceeded expectations and inspired customers. 

My impressions were that Apple’s success was not accidental or a product of luck, but rather the result of meticulously crafted systems that promoted excellence at every step. We are eager to adopt and adapt these insights, creating our own systems of excellence. We understand that it’s not about lofty goals and grand visions, but about the daily grind, the continuous improvement, and the dedication to creating the very best products for our users. As James Clear very aptly put it, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”