What is your Favorite Product?
When headed into interviews their is one question almost everyone is going to ask of a product designer:
What is your favorite product? When designing products, we should look to the masters. Dieter Rams set forth 10 principles of good design that provide an excellent framework for evaluating products:
Innovation - A great product feels fresh and clever in how it solves a problem.
Usefulness - It fulfills a clear need for users.
Aesthetics - It is visually pleasing and delightful.
Understanding - The interface is intuitive and transparent. Users know how to use it.
Unobtrusiveness - It stays out of the user's way.
Honesty - It is authentic in its purpose, not deceptive.
Long-lasting - It withstands changes in technology and taste.
Detail - Every aspect is thoughtfully considered.
Environment - It minimizes environmental impact.
Simplicity - It omits unnecessary features.
When I consider my favorite apps through this lens, a few stand out:
Endless ABCs
Endless ABCs teaches toddlers the alphabet in a playful, simple way. Monsters animate through letters, reinforcing their shapes and sounds. The app innovates on tried-and-true methods of early learning. It focuses entirely on its core purpose without distraction.
Overcast, a podcast app, offers customizable controls over episode playback and subscriptions. It anticipates my listening habits and gets out of the way, letting me enjoy podcasts efficiently. Though simple on the surface, it is powerful in subtler ways. Shout out to Marco Arment!
TeuxDeux handles to-do lists thoughtfully. It recognizes that I will revisit my lists often, roll tasks over, and want to track progress. With a minimalist design, it enables my productivity without cluttering my mental space. Designed by Tina Roth Eisenberg, the app would make Dieter proud.
Great products solve real problems through careful attention to user needs. They don't overcomplicate or overdesign. When we keep our users at the heart of the process, we can create simple, empowering experiences.