Designer

Making the solution seem so completely inevitable and obvious, so uncontrived and natural - it's so hard!

Once, even the simple metal needle challenged the conventional thinking of a time.

Perhaps I'd like to design cars, but I don't think I'd be much good at it.

Make each product the best it can be. Focus on form and materials. What we don't include is as important as what we do include.

I am very aware that I'm the product of growing up in England and the tradition of designing and making, of England industrialising first.

Every new car, you open the door, and you look at all those internal mellifluous swoopy bits, and they have no meaning.

Innovation at Apple has always been a team game. It has always been a case where you have a number of small groups working together.

We all use something - you can't drill holes with your fingers. Whether it's a knife, a needle, or a machine, we all need the help of a device.

We shouldn't be afraid to fail- if we are not failing we are not pushing. 80% of the stuff in the studio is not going to work. If something is not good enough, stop doing it.

So much of my background is about making: physically doing it myself.

A small change at the beginning of the design process defines an entirely different product at the end.

What I think is remarkable is the force of habit and the fact that while we can have a practice for doing something that has been repetitive and established over many, many years, it doesn't actually mean there's any virtue to doing it that way at all.

When you're trying to solve a problem on a new product type, you become completely focused on problems that seem a number of steps removed from the main product. That problem solving can appear a little abstract, and it is easy to lose sight of the product.

If doing anything new, you're very used to having insurmountable obstacles.

Designing and developing anything of consequence is incredibly challenging.

The thing with focus is that it's not this thing you aspire to, like, 'Oh, on Monday I'm going to be focused.' It's every single minute: 'Why are we talking about this when we're supposed to be talking about this?'

We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable, that leave you with the sense that that's the only possible solution that makes sense.

There was a 'Wired' cover that had a big Apple logo with a crown of barbed wire as thorns, and underneath it just said, 'Pray.' I remember this because of how upsetting it was. Basically saying either it's going to just go out of business or be bought.

It is sad that so many designers don't know how to make. CAD software can make a bad design look palatable! It is sad that four years can be spent on a 3D design course without making anything! People who are great at designing and making have a great advantage.

I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what's next.