Jonathan, the Apple master behind the scenes, has three principles of innovation

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I really didn't expect that the second person to have a biography at Apple was Jonathan, Apple's top designer. I recently read "Jonathan's Biography".

If Jobs is the first great god of Apple legend, Jonathan is definitely the second great god, and Cook has to rank behind.

Jonathan is still very strong. Since Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Jonathan has accompanied Jobs in creating some of the most popular products in the world, including iMac, iPod, iPad, iPhone, etc.

It is said that the sharp-tongued Jobs also criticized Jonathan, mocking him for being vain and caring too much about what others think of him. Jonathan was devastated, but Jonathan was indeed vain, for example, he liked luxury sports cars and had bought an Aston Martin D89, a white Bentley, a Land Rover LR3, a black Bentley Brooklands, etc.

However, what impressed me most was Jonathan's three sentences, which are also his three internal innovation rules for creating Apple-level explosive products, which are worth learning for all founders and product managers:

1. The most important lesson in life that Steve Jobs taught Jonathan: focus on screaming products.

Jonathan said: The lesson he learned from Jobs when Apple was in a trough. Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, but just as people learn to live better through death, I learned about big business in a dying company. You might think that when a company has to go bankrupt because of financial problems, you must focus on making money to save the company from the water. However, Jobs did not take this as a priority. He found that the problem was that the product was not good enough. Therefore, his emergency solution was, "We need to make better products." This is completely different from the way to rescue the company before.

Jonathan also agreed with Jobs's focus. What does Jobs mean by focus? It does not mean agreeing with a product, but saying no to it.

2. The ultimate goal of design: completely erase all traces of design.

Jonathan believes that the ultimate goal of design is to completely erase the traces of design from the product. If users can use his product without being distracted by the product itself, this is the most gratifying thing. Perhaps these words from a designer may sound strange, but when I realize that the traces of designers are everywhere in the product, I will be angry and embarrassed.

Jonathan's signature product is the iMac, and its signature design is a variety of candy colors. However, 2001 was a turning point in Jonathan's design style. In that year, Apple launched the iPod. Jonathan abandoned black and color and only chose white, which was the opposite of his previous crazy pursuit of colorful. Jonathan's reason was: "When we first considered product design, we decided that the iPod should be white stainless steel. It's that simple. It's not just a color, but also a neutral attitude, which is both obvious and neutral between the two extremes."

3. Jonathan promoted an internal innovation mechanism within Apple: brainstorming meeting.

When it comes to product innovation, Apple does not rely on focus groups or user surveys, but instead relies on brainstorming sessions.

In Apple's design department, there are two or three brainstorming meetings every week. Jonathan and team members gather around the dining table. All designers must be present without exception. The meeting usually starts at 9 or 10 in the morning and lasts about 3 hours.

The meeting has two parts: the first part starts with coffee tasting, where the designers become baristas and make coffee for everyone.

The second part is the brainstorming meeting, which is a free-spirited and creative round-table meeting where everyone can speak freely. Each brainstorming meeting is very targeted and solves a certain design problem.

Of course, the scary thing about Apple is that after Jobs left, this product system is still running strong. Jonathan's biggest enemy is Jonathan himself.