Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's re... — Steve Jobs

Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works.

Author: Steve Jobs

Insight: Most of us judge things instantly by appearance. A sleek phone, a beautiful website, an elegant coffee cup—we're drawn in by what we see first. But Jobs is pointing at something that separates the things we love from the things we merely tolerate: a well-designed thing feels effortless to use. It anticipates what you need. It gets out of your way. Think about the last time you were frustrated with something—maybe an app that looked polished but made simple tasks needlessly complicated, or a beautifully arranged kitchen where nothing was actually where you'd reach for it. That frustration comes from the gap between how something looks and how it actually behaves. Real design lives in that gap. It's the difference between a product that impresses you in the store and one that improves your life every day. The tricky part is that great design hides itself. A door that opens smoothly, a payment process that takes three clicks instead of ten, a knife that doesn't slip in your hand—these things feel obvious only because someone thought hard about how they should work. That's why designed objects often outlive their prettier cousins. They're not just nice to look at; they earn your trust by working the way your brain naturally expects them to.

Source: The Lost Interview, 2012