Sure, but the dichotomy being offered here is: "instead of listening to our users, we just had to listen to our own good taste." The original "41 shades of blue

Sure, but the dichotomy being offered here is: "instead of listening to our users, we just had to listen to our own good taste." The original "41 shades of blue at Google" A/B rant is a tale of designer disenfranchisement. And of course a former Apple designer would latch onto that -- its carefully curated brand identity is 'good design.' Ken goes on to point out that instead Apple relies on exec demos (true); yet zero mention of consumer focus groups. Unless your idea of a good product focus group is one slightly egocentric billionaire. And really, the entire argument comes down to: "we don't have enough hours in the day to consider every detail, so we just focus on the stuff execs see." When Ken brags about not consulting data in building his software, I view it as equal parts damnation and praise. If he didn't consult any user metrics in designing the software keyboard autocorrect[1], we now know why its reputation with users sucked for years. [1]: https://qz.com/1380188/ken-kocienda-qa/ https://qz.com/1380188/ken-kocienda-qa/