Can Design create 10x value?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Quality, and how to measure it:
Let’s say a 10x experience is possible. Depending on the product, it may come from just one core area. Or it might take 2-3 areas together. None of these may be visual, product, or interaction Design.
I was listening to this conversation with Janum Trivedi. He’s worked on the iPadOS pointer redesign at Apple and then went on to redesign the Netflix app, the Download animation at Arc Browser, and is now at Airbnb. The attention to detail, quality and care are inspiring.
Yet it left me feeling that there is a difference between the Netflix and Arc Browser examples and Apple’s work on Designing Fluid Interfaces, Carplay Design System, and Dynamic Island. Let’s go one by one.
Design as a supporting axis
The Netflix example - the details are beautiful and moved the core business metrics in the right direction. But they’re not core to the product in the way content is core. That is to say, if another content platform came along with better curation, people are likely to shift to that. A baseline level of design is important, but it’s not the axis that’s core to product differentiation.
The Arc Browser example - while the effort that went into creating the arcs and figuring out the physics of the motion is impressive. But core to a browser is it’s performance and ease of consuming information. It’s not the animations that will become the moat if a better browser comes along.
My opinion is that when we take details like this to mean quality, we do ourselves a disservice. We are neither solving a core business problem or a core user need. In time, we will feel disheartened or disillusioned about the value of design.
Design as the core axis
Now let’s compare it with the examples from Apple.
Carplay Design System - the core innovation is the interface itself. If a car manufacturer wanted to build an Apple-level software for their vehicle it can’t get better than this. If anyone wants to build a better product for this use case, they will have to out-innovate Apple on this very axis. That is to say, the interface design is where the 10x product differentiation and moat comes from. Apple understood the use case deeply and designed the heck out of it.
The Dynamic Island - The use case is viewing ongoing information in the background at a glance. It could’ve been a weak attempt to conceal the pill. But they nailed the user story and designed the heck out of it. It is now a feature that people will consider when picking their next phone. And then, of course, Apple went all the way to get every last detail of it perfect.
Duolingo — The only other company I can think of where design is the core axis of innovation. Take the streak widget for example. Remove the illustration from it and it immediately loses all its effectiveness. Bring it in and it directly impacts the core business metric of retention and engagement of learners. Incredible. For a product to solve better for learning languages, they would have to innovate directly on the learning experience to do better.
Both Apple and Duolingo have an exceptionally clear articulation of the user need. And they continue to out-innovate themselves on product design year after year.
Notion, Linear, Figma, etc., to me feel a bit different because, as they matured, have come to rely more on distribution machinery to unlock more value. That’s not to say that they are not good businesses. They are doing well. The lens I’m applying is how much of it continues to anchor on interface and product design.
Design as the foundational axis
By foundational, I mean innovating the medium itself. To make interfaces intuitive yet unnoticed so people feel close to their tasks without having to think about interactions. User stories sound a bit different here.
Fluid interfaces—Users want interfaces to respond at the speed of thought without having to think about how to use the interface. Users don’t want to wait for the animations and transitions to catch up to their change in intent. I’m in awe every time I see a talk like this. How does one think of this problem, prototype the solutions, discover the principles that make an exceptional experience even better!
iPad OS pointer — Users want to select the right element on the interface without being extremely precise with the input tool. I went to an Apple store just to try it out. It takes a min to get used to. I did start to be more approximate about the cursor movement and rely on the interface to get the precision right for me. Unfortunately, seems like it’s really up to the developers to use it the right way. The implementation doesn’t come applied out of the box.
10x Design
If you’re an ambitious, skilled designer, you care about quality. Before you go fighting for it, ask if you’re working on a product that’s creating a 10x solution, and if design is core to the solution.
It’s not always going to be. Sometimes the core is operations, or cloud infra, or sales, or engineering, or data science, etc. If it’s not core to the solution, be honest about it. Accept that Design will be a supporting function creating .1x-.5x improvements. High quality product design may not be in the best interest of customers, the company or you.
If it is core, then fantastic! Define quality, make the case for it, and pursue it. You will naturally find yourself on the cutting edge of the field. It will be a win-win for you, the business, and customers!
Thanks for reading.
P.S.
Here’s a list of interaction designers who worked on examples above from apple. I enjoy checking the list every couple of days. Hope you do too.
If you enjoyed this one, do check out the previous article on quality.