Dear Ken,
Useability of an iphone isn't that great... When it arrived it was better
than the old Nokias and that was a huge advance at the time.
I suggest nowadays the primary role of the aesthetic aspects of the iphone
is in the realm of status rather than useability. Much the same as the
earlier role of 'styling'.
For day to day practical use Windows phones currently seem to me to be best
on usability terms (though they sold badly). I own and use Apple, Android
and Windows phones and for practicality, and particularly for photography,
pick up the Windows phone rather than the others. The main role for the
iphone seems to be for playing music via Pandora - the sound system is
designed to fit an iphone.
Earlier, I was simply making the point that aesthetics and useability isn't
the whole of the design activity for a product. I was cautioning that in
design theory terms if one is focused on appearance and aesthetics it is
often easy to overlook the huge amount of technical design activity.
Without that technical design activity any product such as an iphone is no
more than a well styled box.
In design research terms, being aware of the full breadth of design activity
beyond one's specialism seem to also be practically useful - not least in
avoiding bias....
Best regards,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Friedman
Sent: Wednesday, 5 July 2017 11:45 AM
To: PhD-Design <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: What makes a iPhone an iPhone
Dear All,
Delurking yet again after reading too many posts. Lots of interesting
thoughts, followed by exaggerated claims for engineering on one side and
exaggerated claims for the wisdom of illiterate children on the other.
Children can't design an iPhone and neither can engineers working alone.
The first mobile phone I ever saw (1987, in Finland) was designed by
engineers ... it was the size of an old-fashioned automobile battery.
What makes the iPhone an iPhone is the ease of use and simplicity in
operation that required a 300-page user manual for some mobile phones.
The greatest value in the iPhone is ease of use and multiple purpose through
the user interface. The level, amount, and quality of engineering that it
takes to deliver the experience of the iPhone is massive. But there must be
nearly as much engineering in the Sony, the Motorola, or any other major
brands .... these require hundreds of pages of user manuals to operate. The
iPhone is designed to be simple enough to work on a relatively easy and
often intuitive basis. That is the source of value creation in the iPhone.
I once heard this take on the iPhone stated by a mathematical physicist and
engineer who works in advanced manufacturing for global industries. Anyone
who actually works with advanced mathematics or does engineering in the
context of advanced manufacturing rather than simply talking about them
probably has a view similar to the concept in David Sless's Gilbert Ryles
anecdote.
There is no "1%" of "aesthetics" in the iPhone, whatever that might possibly
mean.
There is a great product with as much attention to detail as is required to
deliver a comprehensive, coherent user experience. The applies to every
detail. It even applies to the relatively low tech manufacturing of the
specific kind of cardboard box that tells consumers that the box contains an
Apple product, the wrapping paper and sheets of plastic wrapper, or the
little metal widget that one must use to insert the SIM card.
Nevertheless, I still use my old auto battery sized mobile phone. It's just
the right weight to hold down the edge of the canvas tarpaulin on the stack
of wood in the back patio. On cold winter days, we fire up the wood-burning
tile stove in the living room and the tarp keeps the wood dry. I figure that
the high quality engineering in the mobile phone contributes around 1% to
the total heating effort.
Yours,
Ken
Sent from my iPad
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