Apple Design

I mentioned in my last post that I thought that the robots in Alex Proyas's movie "I, Robot" were very realistic (by which I of course meant that they look like the kind of robots we will make in the future).

I suspect that the director/designers asked themselves this question: "If Apple were designing a robot, what would it look like?"

I remember a client challenging me with that question one day when we were discussing user interface options (well not the "robot" part of course!)

I had a moment of satori when I heard that question. The question is so good (and so much better than asking about "the sound of one hand clapping"). What would Apple do?

It's a question that encourages you to throw off received notions of what is and is not possible.

In the Steve Jobs biography there are numerous examples of him refusing to except that something "can't be done". And look at all the great stuff that his attitude produced!

So the next time you're making a design decision, I encourage you to check to see if your thinking is being hobbled by preconceived notions of what is possible, or what the "normal" solution would be.

And here to inspire you is an image of how Apple might design a robot: