Apple's design processes that they use to come up with creative ideas?

College Student

Hi all. I am wondering if anyone could help me out here. I am doing a college project on Apple. Does anyone know the company's existing processes that they use to come up with creative ides? Do they brainstorm, have databases of ideas, incentives or what? How (besides Steve JObs) do they come up with new ideas? What is their policy for developing new ideas? I need detailed info for this though!!
hope someone can help me!?
Thanks a million.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

1. Take existing product.
2. Add logo.
3. ??????
4. Profit.

tbh I don't think you'll find anything in the public domain beyond meaningless marketing propaganda.

spidermonkey

I am an apple fan, I use macs daily, I had an ipod and now have an iphone.

microsoft has lots of plug and play hardware and as such there are driver problems which hamper usability (i used to use windows for years). They sell their software and hope that it will run on anything.

Apple really do software, (the hardware is only a nice exterior), and they do it brilliantly- when you buy a mac essentially harware-wise its the same as a pc. The difference is that they use only specific hardware so they can write the software to work as best as it can with that specific hardware so the end user experience is close to flawless.

And in the world we live in the customer is king, you please them and your guaranteed repeat business.

With regard to their iphone and ipods.
The portable mp3 thing was on the horizon and they saw an opportunity, again wel thought-out software dressed up in sexy hardware.
After so many evolutions of ipod, the next logical thing was the iphone. Essentially an internet connected ipod. (the phone only exists in software and a few extra bits of hardware. Its interface is what you pay for multitouch, animated user interface.

The animation interface is part of the core of the operating system on OSX and on the iphones which makes it run so soothly.

Animated user interfaces and mobile media multitouch devices have been sold to us for years through movies and tv. Apple actually try to create these devices for us to use. Its the future today.
Their devices design is rooted in the past also.

So you could say that they redesign the past and give us the future.

I dunno if i actually made sense??

spidermonkey

ohh and that mouse in your right hand.... apple did that first.

That icon on your desktop... Xerox did that and apple saw the potential and applied it in its OS.

The did however not realise the need of a two button mouse but thats all in the past. I think the next gen mouse should be savage, imaging an iphone (with screen facing the surface of the table. multitouch gestural device possibly with even a display on its shell to visually show you what a supermouse can do within each app.

Axwell

Have a look at all the product release presentations on You tube where they describe the features and design of each product. You should be able to get some info on their design and thought process from this and compare it across their products.

byrne0f56789

This could be an interesting article for you.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/03/15/could_a_lack_of_rd_spending_threaten_apples_innovative_run.html

Apparently Apple does not spend as much on R&D as others.

DubTony

Here's the google results for Jonathan Ive, their chief designer. You might get some info there.

As for how it all comes about.

Well, if you consider that the guy who started the company and was the main driver of most of the innovations before he was kicked out, set up his own software business, then his own animation business, then sold his software business to the guys who fired him, while coming back as an advisor, and eventually took control of the company he created; you have the answer. You really can't get more creative than that.

Steve Jobs Wiki page

As to how much influence he has over the whole thing? When it was announced he was ill a few months ago, share prices in Apple tumbled knocking $10 billion off it's value.

conolan

Many years ago (1989) I was in the Apple Human Integration Research building in Cupertino. They had an anything goes approach to their workplace (half formed wall with exposed rubble comes to mind) and work patterns. The kind of thing that freaks out accountants. Basically they let people do what they wanted with the carrot of inventing the next great thing. Google do something similar, with their 20% rule. Takes guts to do that (ask the accountant) and you have to be able to exploit whatever comes out.

College Student

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