Comments on: Why Apple’s success doesn’t discount the value of social engagement http://zum.io/2009/11/10/why-apples-success-doesnt-discount-the-value-of-social-engagement/ Outcomes through engagement Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:19:09 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Grant http://zum.io/2009/11/10/why-apples-success-doesnt-discount-the-value-of-social-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-278 Grant Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:59:49 +0000 http://zum.io/?p=658#comment-278 Thanks Oliver - great suggestions both. I'd read that prototyping quote elsewhere and meant to blog it at the time - thanks for reminding me! Thanks Oliver – great suggestions both. I’d read that prototyping quote elsewhere and meant to blog it at the time – thanks for reminding me!

]]> By: oliverw.myopenid.com/ http://zum.io/2009/11/10/why-apples-success-doesnt-discount-the-value-of-social-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-277 oliverw.myopenid.com/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:45:01 +0000 http://zum.io/?p=658#comment-277 Great article Grant! Two other important processes that Apple use: 1. Lots and lots of investment in time to get the UI design right. "They'll take ten [design approaches], and give themselves room to design without restriction. Later they whittle that number to three, spend more months on those three and then finally end up with one strong decision." Note the "months" :-) http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/03/apples_design_p.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_techbeat 2. Prototyping hardware and the Apple Store experience From Apple's own product videos (e.g. making a MacBookPro) through to building real world prototypes of their stores to test the experience, Apple invests heavily in prototyping to evaluate the user experience. "One of the best pieces of advice Mickey [Drexler from GAP] ever gave us was to go rent a warehouse and build a prototype of a store, and not, you know, just design it, go build 20 of them, then discover it didn't work," says Jobs" http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/03/19/8402321/index.htm Most companies don't understand the value of user experience and design enough to invest in it properly. cheers, oliverw Great article Grant!
Two other important processes that Apple use:
1. Lots and lots of investment in time to get the UI design right.
“They’ll take ten [design approaches], and give themselves room to design without restriction. Later they whittle that number to three, spend more months on those three and then finally end up with one strong decision.”
Note the “months” :-)
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/03/apples_design_p.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_techbeat

2. Prototyping hardware and the Apple Store experience
From Apple’s own product videos (e.g. making a MacBookPro) through to building real world prototypes of their stores to test the experience, Apple invests heavily in prototyping to evaluate the user experience.
“One of the best pieces of advice Mickey [Drexler from GAP] ever gave us was to go rent a warehouse and build a prototype of a store, and not, you know, just design it, go build 20 of them, then discover it didn’t work,” says Jobs”
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/03/19/8402321/index.htm

Most companies don’t understand the value of user experience and design enough to invest in it properly.

cheers,
oliverw

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