The+Design+Environment

DESIGN ENVIRONMENT

When speaking of the iPad or any Apple product for that matter, the word innovation comes to mind. Apple has surly been the leader, the trailblazer, the first on the forefront when it comes to design of technology and new innovative products. Through their innovation, they have captured the attention, intrigue, and fascination of millions of people. Today, whether one is a fan of Apple or not, everyone is most definitely intrigued by what products and design Apple has to offer.

 **WHEN:** Specifically speaking of the iPad, it is an innovation that seems to have been in the works for many years. Some have compared today's iPad with earlier Apple products, like the Newton Message Pad released in 1993, the PowerBook Duo and the MessagePad 2100. However none of these really compared or caught on like the iPhone or the iPad did years later. The idea however was there. In fact, it has been rumored that the iPad was actually invented and ready for release before the iPhone was. However, before the release, they realized that the technology in the iPad would lend itself to a phone as well. So the powers that be at Apple decided to release the phone before the pad. The iPad was finally released the the public in 2010.

**WHERE:** Where was the iPad designed? Well, the answer is pretty obvious, since it seems that the design team at Apple, consisting of Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive, Scott Forstall, and their small team of designers, engineers and programmers are the only ones who ever actually design their products. Apple does not believe in outsourcing or market research or any other conventional product development. Steve Jobs is quoted as saying "It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.’’’

The iPad was created in Apple headquarters, like all other Apple products. The Apple Team believes they know what the public will want and they are completely "independent on any reliance on anyone else to provide input on design." They ARE the total user experience.

   **HOW:** The innovators at Apple to not follow market research or other conventional methods of business practice. While market research may work for most companies, Apple has a different approach to "getting the job done". They have what they refer to as "**Paired Design Meetings" and "Pony Meetings".** During Paired Design Meetings, every week the design team has two meetings. One meeting is a brainstorming session, where the designers "forget about constraints and think freely - the 'go crazy'". The second meeting is a production meeting, "an entirely separate but equally regular meeting which is the other's antithesis. Here, the designers and engineers are required to nail everything down, to work out how this crazy idea might actually work." The Pony Meetings refer to meetings where they take the best ideas and turn them into "deliverables". Just as all children "want" a pony, or do they? The designers at Apple decide for the public, is it really a pony we want? Or is it something else?