Design Like Apple: Seven Principles For Creating Insanely Great Products, Services, and Experiences

Design Like Apple

Bring it all together.

I attended an invitation-only party in 2011 at a swanky Palo Alto restaurant to celebrate the launch of a Silicon Valley startup called Nest. Because the Valley is a hotbed of activity for technology and social media companies that are attracting a flood of venture capital and Wall Street investment, this promised to be yet another glitzy launch by an enterprising company of its latest tech product or service. Another Dropbox, perhaps, or the next must-have app designed by scruffy twentysomethings.

As it turned out, that was not the case at all. We had gathered at the chic Reposado restaurant to toast a company called Nest that was introducing, of all things, a new thermostat. Never before had I seen so much fanfare (or any fanfare, for that matter) over a thermostat. You know, that common household device that not many people really think about too much unless their home is either too hot or too cold, or if they want to save on their utility bill. Yet, like many things in the Valley, a place influenced by the titans of the tech industry as well as a spirit of innovation and design, both Nest the company and its thermostat were more than what they seemed to be.

For one thing, there were strong connections between Apple and the founders of Nest, both ex-Apple employees: Tony Fadell had led the iPod and iPhone development teams, and Matt Rogers ...