Good Design—The iPhone
The phone market in the United States is saturated with different brands of phones to meet the needs of consumers. It seems as though I hear about a new company coming out with their “flagship” device every week, and each of these devices has its own group of devoted users who seem to fan over each new generation and feature. However, one device seems to rule them all: the Apple iPhone.
Figure 1: iPhone generations from oldest (left) to newest (right).
Ever since the release of the iPhone in 2007, consumers in the United States have been drawn to the device more and more - currently, 47% of smartphone users in the United States own an iPhone [1].
Figure 2: Percentage of U.S. population that owns an iPhone over several years [1].
Considering the number of different phone brands on the market, this is a substantial percentage. But why are iPhones so popular? I asked 40 people what phone they use, and if they use an iPhone, what draws them to the iPhone and what keeps them there. Here is a condensed list of the top responses:
Connection to friends through iMessage, FaceTime, and AirDrop
The Apple ecosystem
Simplicity and consistency
User friendly/ease-of-use/quick interface
I’ll dive a little deeper into how Apple uses each of these in their product design to entice and keep customers.
Connection to Others
By far, the top survey response was some form of “I love using iMessages/FaceTime with my friends and family.” iMessage on Apple phones is one of the main reasons that people stay with iPhones instead of moving to other products. In fact, this is one design choice that Apple consciously makes: in a recent chain of emails between Apple executives (made public by Apple), Craig Federighi (Apple's chief software executive) stated that “I am concerned [that] iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.” This decision by Apple to not develop an iMessage service for other phone users is an excellent design choice, and one that “amounts to serious lock-in” [2] for iPhone customers. The same principle exists for other Apple-only features such as FaceTime and AirDrop, amongst others.
The “Ecosystem”
The infamous Apple ecosystem is a network of devices and proprietary technology that somehow “just works.” The ecosystem is what Apple has designed to keep users inside their “walled garden” [3] of technology. For example, if you are an iPhone user and you decide that you need a tablet, you are most likely going to go with an iPad because it will “just work” with your iPhone. This continues until the iPhone user has a myriad of Apple devices, tied together through iMessage, iCloud, AirPlay, AirDrop, (the upcoming) Universal Control feature [4], and countless other services that somehow connect well with each other. Apple has done an excellent job designing these products and services so that users do not have to mess with troubleshooting connection issues, device incompatibility, and so forth.
Simplicity and Consistency
Each time I look at the iPhone user interface, I am amazed that each app is designed to look consistent with every other app on the phone. In addition, each app is as simple to use as the overall operating system, which is laid out very simply. I decided to investigate how Apple achieves this simplicity and consistency with their design, and I came across the Apple Human Interface Guidelines - an entire website devoted to guidelines for human interface, interaction, and control [5]. The reason that people love the Apple operating system is due to the control that Apple has over each developer’s design through three themes: clarity, deference, and depth. Each of these themes adds to the user experience in ways that help users navigate and understand the system:
Clarity: clarity is the quality of being intelligible. In the context of Apple interface design, this means that colors, fonts, text size, graphics, and other interface elements are designed in a way that they highlight important content and show interactivity.
Deference: deference is a word that means “respect” or “humility”. In Apple app design, this controls the interaction of the user with the app - the user should be able to understand and interact with content, but should never have to compete with it. In this sense, the interface shows respect to the user and their needs. Fluid motion is well developed, and there are features such as blurring, shadows, and translucency that help guide the user through the interface.
Depth: depth in the world of Apple products translates to developing visual layers that show energy and animation, all while giving power and functionality to the user without losing meaning. Transitions are well developed and access to additional content is well placed.
These themes are complemented with additional design principles that help developers understand how Apple apps and interfaces are to be designed. These include principles such as aesthetic integrity, consistency, direct manipulation, feedback, and user control. By keeping these themes and principles under control, Apple has designed the iPhone to be simple, consistent, and user-friendly.
User Friendly/Ease-of-use
According to Chris Mattson, “user-centered design involves basing design work on an explicit understanding of users, their tasks, and the environment in which they carry out those tasks” [6]. Apple has done an excellent job of understanding their users, what priorities their users have, and how those priorities can be carried out on an iPhone. You might notice that teenagers have high standards when it comes to camera quality and communication. Apple has catered their phones directly towards these priorities: the iPhone camera is excellent, and communication services such as iMessage and FaceTime have teenagers locked into iPhones. Young adult and adult users may place a higher emphasis on organization and multi-tasking ability, and Apple builds each iPhone with their newest, most powerful processor and places a high emphasis on organization within their own apps. Apple consciously thinks of the user and how to make the iPhone a better, more user-friendly product for everyone. This principle is contrasted by other phone brands, who, while having their own capable abilities and features, may not place the highest emphasis on ease of use or user experience.
Overall, the Apple iPhone has a good design due to its remarkable (and proprietary) messaging services and ecosystem, its simplicity and consistency, and the overall user experience that is centered around the consumer and his or her needs. As Apple continues to think about how to keep their products centered around the user, they will continue to trump the smartphone and tech industry.
As you think about your design projects, think about how your product will be user-centered, easy and intuitive to use, and how it provides functionality and power to the user.
References:
[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/236550/percentage-of-us-population-that-own-a-iphone-smartphone/
[3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4_WIPE7vo
[4]https://www.macrumors.com/guide/universal-control/
[5]https://developer.apple.com/design/
[6]https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/good-design-the-milwaukee-fastback-utility-knife
