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Has Apple failed on its design promise

1 points by cjwake 16y ago

pedalpete 16y ago
I have always seen Apple's design promise as being 'we create beautiful products that people want' more than 'we create functional products that people want'. If I understand Donald Norman's design philosophy correctly, he says 'create something beautiful and people will think it performs better than it actually does'. Therefore, Apple hasn't failed on their design promise. They promise to make beautiful products and market them in such a way that people can't stop drooling and talking about them. If the question is does Apple make high quality products that work, we can't blame all the flaws on AT&T, Apple released a phone that drops the signal if you hold it in your right hand, and this is a 'feature' that Jobs promoted as exceptional design! It may be exceptional because it is beautiful and allowed them to make the phone thinner. It isn't exceptional because it works.
- cjwake 16y ago
  This is a fair point. I believe that you are absolutely correct that the Apple design promise has incorporated beauty as a key component, however I still contend that there has always been an element of function as well, even if only implied. Consider Apple's early beginnings, all urban legends and anecdotes aside. Apple found initial success by providing "beautiful" products that were built so virtually any user could handle them - they offered simple, clean functionality, as embodied by the user-interface and the original Apple Mouse for navigation. Further, consider all of the Apple commercials from recent history - "I'm a Mac v. I'm a PC" - each episode was based on an implied simplicity (function) and beauty of Macs, as opposed to their clunky and confusing PC rivals. Apple has since pulled those commercials in favor of a new angle - perhaps, to your point, something that will focus not on function, but on aesthetic appeal alone going forward. To your point regarding AT&T, I agree that they are not solely to blame here. The dropped call problem with the iPhone 4 is certainly a design flaw, not one to be blamed on the carrier - though problems with AT&T are not to be ignored completely either. I would not be surprised if further design flaws emerge around the iPhone 4 in the coming months, but I believe that these speak more to my point here that Apple has neglected its promise for equal parts function and beauty. ...And as an aside, I was spurred to write the original post when I realized that the iPhone 4 received all of the really neat features that I had expected and wanted to see in the iPad. Apple has historically kept me drooling for the next great thing, but in this case, perhaps the release dates were just too close together and their lack of foresight too blatant for me to let go without a word or two on the topic.

1 points by cjwake 16y ago

I have always seen Apple's design promise as being 'we create beautiful products that people want' more than 'we create functional products that people want'. If I understand Donald Norman's design philosophy correctly, he says 'create something beautiful and people will think it performs better than it actually does'. Therefore, Apple hasn't failed on their design promise. They promise to make beautiful products and market them in such a way that people can't stop drooling and talking about them. If the question is does Apple make high quality products that work, we can't blame all the flaws on AT&T, Apple released a phone that drops the signal if you hold it in your right hand, and this is a 'feature' that Jobs promoted as exceptional design! It may be exceptional because it is beautiful and allowed them to make the phone thinner. It isn't exceptional because it works.

cjwake 16y ago
This is a fair point. I believe that you are absolutely correct that the Apple design promise has incorporated beauty as a key component, however I still contend that there has always been an element of function as well, even if only implied. Consider Apple's early beginnings, all urban legends and anecdotes aside. Apple found initial success by providing "beautiful" products that were built so virtually any user could handle them - they offered simple, clean functionality, as embodied by the user-interface and the original Apple Mouse for navigation. Further, consider all of the Apple commercials from recent history - "I'm a Mac v. I'm a PC" - each episode was based on an implied simplicity (function) and beauty of Macs, as opposed to their clunky and confusing PC rivals. Apple has since pulled those commercials in favor of a new angle - perhaps, to your point, something that will focus not on function, but on aesthetic appeal alone going forward. To your point regarding AT&T, I agree that they are not solely to blame here. The dropped call problem with the iPhone 4 is certainly a design flaw, not one to be blamed on the carrier - though problems with AT&T are not to be ignored completely either. I would not be surprised if further design flaws emerge around the iPhone 4 in the coming months, but I believe that these speak more to my point here that Apple has neglected its promise for equal parts function and beauty. ...And as an aside, I was spurred to write the original post when I realized that the iPhone 4 received all of the really neat features that I had expected and wanted to see in the iPad. Apple has historically kept me drooling for the next great thing, but in this case, perhaps the release dates were just too close together and their lack of foresight too blatant for me to let go without a word or two on the topic.