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Apple has built one of the most successful businesses in the world on mostly one thing: design. (And user experience, which is design more broadly applied.) Un
by api 12y ago
Apple has built one of the most successful businesses in the world on mostly one thing: design. (And user experience, which is design more broadly applied.)
Undortunately, it seems to me that good design requires totalitarianism. Apple's products are comparatively coherent, clean, unified, and aesthetically pleasing. This is achieved via a culture of totalitarianism that extends all the way down to the device. OSX has some openness grandfathered in, but iOS shows you where Apple wants to go.
... and customers largely approve. Having used both iOS and the more open Android, I can say that while Android is more capable iOS is more of a pleasure to use. There you have it.
It's something I have seen broadly in the world, and I actually find it rather disturbing. Bazaars can be creative and can offer a rich array of options and a lot of value, but only a cathedral can deliver aesthetics and usability.
- terminus 12y agoMaybe. But the real question is: is a few percentage points in difference in aesthetics and usability worth it? It is hardly curing cancer.
- ZenoArrow 12y agoDid you read the article?
- api 12y agoYes. I think you missed my point. They are the kings of design and UX. It disturbs me that their culture is this totalitarian and dysfunctional, but it doesn't surprise me in the least.
- ZenoArrow 12y agoWhy doesn't it surprise you in the least?
- Apocryphon 12y agoHis post explains it. To have good design/UX (in his opinion), you need to exercise a lot of control over your product- totalitarian control, even. Apple is great at design- therefore, the company culture to maintain that control is also totalitarian.
- mikeash 12y agoApple happens to have good design and happens to be totalitarian, but I don't think the one comes from the other. Apple used to be a lot less awful in this respect, but their design and usability was still great (arguably better than today).
- kziojzwsndppqgg 12y ago> Apple used to be a lot less awful in this respect, but their design and usability was still great (arguably better than today). It's interesting that you say that because from everything I've heard talking to people I work with and in other departments who have been here a while, the opposite is true. The conventional thought is at least over the past 2 years or so, the stress has gotten lower. Most of this is from the departure of a particular executive (no, not Steve) who was known to crack the whip really hard on people. I also hear those same people talk about how quality has suffered as a result of his departure, and they actually long for the higher-stress days when they had to work longer hours but were happier with the finished product.
- sangnoir 12y agoThat's an unfortunate side effect if the culture they developed, whereby quality correlates with the amount of whipcracking. A lot of job adverts have "must be self-motivated" (which I thought was a load of bollocks) but it seems self-motivation has been largely extinguished at Apple (by design or accident)
- mikeash 12y agoIn this case, "totalitarian" refers to their level of control over their platforms and over third-party software, not their attitude toward employees.
- api 12y agoIt's hard to keep a mentality from infecting everything.
- cududa 12y agoI don't want to refute your argument point for point, but just reading the first sentence... It sounds like you're using "design" in the same way one might use "aesthetic". User Experience is just as much about engineering as it is aesthetic. It's a disservice to the craft of software engineering to meet design requirements as well as the engineering process of architecting a user interface to debase it as you do.