The design is not what it looks like October 11th, 13:46

"Design isn't about how it looks, it's about how it works."

"Simple is sometimes more difficult than complex,"

said the late Steve Jobs, Apple's founder.

It's been 10 years since Jobs passed away.

How did the idea called "design thinking" that he was particular about take root in manufacturing?

(Los Angeles Branch Nana Yamada)

Influence from marketing professionals

Called "one of the people who made Silicon Valley," there is a person whom the late Steve Jobs relied on.

Regis McKenna.

After working for a semiconductor-related company, he is a marketing professional who founded his own marketing company in the 1970s.

At one point, McKenna was contacted by phone from Jobs, who heard the rumor, and asked for a meeting with Jobs and engineer Steve Wozniak.

The consultation is about computer marketing called "Apple II" (released in 1977).

Jobs and colleagues have announced that they will publish articles about the product in magazines.

McKenna felt that the content was so specialized that it was unacceptable to the average consumer, saying, "If you want to expand the market, don't send it to people of the same type as you. It should be rewritten. "

However, the two did not like the opinion and left the room.

McKenna

"The first meeting didn't go well, but Steve called me at a later date. Once I was interested in him, I couldn't escape anymore. I've come to see you. I think you talked a lot and finally understood what Apple should be like in the future. Marketing is everything. Everything. That it's marketing, and that marketing is part of "design thinking."

Design thinking ≠ design

Design thinking is not about designer skills.

While answering questions such as what kind of problems the world has and what people want when making things and designing things, we will embody ideas for solving problems and creating products that meet needs. It's a way of thinking.

McKenna believes Jobs originally had the potential to embody design thinking.

And he said that he developed his talent through interaction with Mr. McKenna.

The idea of ​​people accepting products with excellent technology and products that the makers think is good has changed to thinking about how to meet the needs of many people.

McKenna

"Steve went to different stores and watched shoppers closely. He actually met people and asked a lot of questions about what people wanted and" talked to the market. " I was thinking, "I wish this was the case."

Back calculation from needs

The Apple II was a turning point in the transformation of Apple's products into products that anyone could use.

That's what Barry Katz says.

He is a member of IDEO, a consulting firm in Silicon Valley known as a company that spread design thinking, and is currently a professor at California College of the Arts.

Unlike previous products that could only be used by someone with specialized knowledge, the Apple II was developed as a computer that can be used by a wide range of consumers.

What should it look like for people who want to write and calculate on a computer?

What kind of experience can you provide through the product?

It is said that the question of design was born from such an idea.

And it was designed as a "finished product" that can be used without specialized knowledge or special tools.

That experience will become the basis for product manufacturing until later.

Professor Katz

"Steve leaves behind the phrase,'Design isn't what it looks like, it's how the thing works.' What he wanted to say was from start to finish in the process of making a product. It is important to get involved with the designer. And I understand that the essence of design is not only the appearance of the product, but also its contents and functionality. The iPhone is the history of humankind. It's probably the most successful product of all, but it's not because of the big screen or how cool it looks. It's because it creates an experience that no one has ever had. "

Living design thinking

I met one of the designers who was strongly influenced by Jobs' design thinking.

Victor Zode, who lives in Los Angeles.

In the 1980s, I was fascinated by the computer released when I was a high school student, and created a pamphlet detailing its structure.

When I sent it to Mr. Jobs with his mother's idea, it was said that Apple called home.

That led me to join the design team as an intern and worked for Apple as a software designer for about two years before entering college.

That experience, which inspired him to become a designer, is the cornerstone of Zode's design of products.

So far, he has designed products that are familiar to consumers, such as boxes for take-out of sushi chains, as well as cans of black tea and green tea.

Zodo Mr.

"learned from Steve at the time of the intern, it was to have a passion and belief to what you design. Why was made to do so, shall talk about someone with a passion. For example, What kind of design should a can for green tea, which had not yet penetrated in the United States at that time, be designed? Not just as a container, but to design the experience itself from the time the can is opened to the time it is drunk and after it is drunk. I kept in mind. "

Even if you can't be Jobs

Barry Katz, a university professor who gives lectures to young people who want to become designers.

He once asked Jobs, "I'm going back to class and talking to students studying design. Do you have any message?"

Jobs's answer is:

"You should do whatever you need to be in the company of someone who has a job you can respect. Even a monotonous and difficult job. Get up close to that person's work style, thinking process, and technical skills. There is no substitute for the experience seen in. "

McKenna, who taught Jobs about design thinking, is still receiving emails from young people saying, "I want to be like Steve Jobs."

It's not easy.

However, learning and practicing design thinking could lead to the birth of second and third Jobs in any field.

Silicon Valley has that soil.

Los Angeles bureau reporter

Nana Yamada

Joined in 2009

After working at Nagasaki Broadcasting Station, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Department of International Affairs, etc.