Apple love potion and product design with MIT’s John Maeda

John Maeda seems like the type of person most people would want to sit down with and hold a casual afternoon conversation over tea or coffee. Afterward, chances are good they'd look at items that contribute to our lives and possibly, life itself, from a different perspective.

John Maeda is a world-renowned designer; visual artist, computer scientist and Associate Director of Research at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts where, at MIT, he is also an Allen Professor of Arts and Sciences. In 1999, Esquire magazine named Maeda one of the 21 most important people in the 21st century. His most recent book, "The Laws of Simplicity" outlines ten laws surrounding the paradoxically complex topic of simplicity.

In this exclusive interview with VentureOutsource.com, Dr. Maeda isolates what he believes to be the source behind Apple's iPhone success; discusses product design for manufacturing (DfM) and end-user usability, and more. Transcripts from that discussion follow.

VentureOutsource.com: Technology product manufacturing companies invest a lot of time and money to design and manufacture products that rate high with consumer acceptance with regards to fit, form, and function. However, it sometimes it seems there has to be give and take...company products cannot rate high in all three categories. Meanwhile, based on consumer feedback, Apple's iPhone seems to have done just that. What three (3) key design or related challenges do you feel consumer electronics product companies must overcome in order to achieve a similar level of success in the marketplace?

Maeda: I think the common mistake regarding Apple products is they are somehow deemed to be superior in terms of "fit, form, and function". This conclusion is given without consideration that Apple's brand has become so powerful in recent years solely because of the iPod's success. And the iPod's success stemmed not from its clever design, but more on Apple's strategy of using iTunes as a simple front-end to manage electronic music sales for a populace that wanted to switch to buying music digitally.

I would say we've been brainwashed to believe in the Apple touch through the power of "loving" Apple products -- much like the famed success Harley-Davidson has had in the motorcycle community with their products. Judging whether something is "better" is not only a rational decision -- it's really an emotional decision.

Furthermore, look at where we live in 2007 -- the Internet and computing technology lies at the foundation of all our current progress today. Apple completely understands the value of an intangible asset like software; whereas many companies still live in the physical world where product size; weight, and overall heft carries more political clout.

John Maeda
Associate Director of Research
The Media Lab
Allen Professor of Media Arts & Sciences
MIT

Because Apple "gets" the software revolution, they just build the right kind of electronic gadgets around it; whereas other companies make products then try to stuff the Internet inside them as an afterthought. Thus the three key design challenges are simple:

1.) Software, software, software. Consider your hardware delivery platform as irrelevant, and first get the software experience right.

2.) Understand and communicate simplicity. Adopt "simplicity" as part of your branding strategy, and deliver it in your product line.

3.) Use less, think more. While delivering an object with fewer functions to increase usabililty, make each function work better by putting more cash / effort into it.