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How great design happens | The Essence of Software

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Think about your favorite product, whether it’s a photo-editing app or a toaster, and ask yourself: how did it get to be so good? With all the hype in the design world about creativity and brainstorming, it’s easy to imagine that great designs simply appear, out of the blue. Someone conjures up a new idea, and it just needs to be translated from sketch to product. Maybe many details need to be added, but the quality of the design was there at the start—like a tiny seed that grows spontaneously into a magnificent tree.

Think about your favorite product, whether it’s a photo-editing app or a toaster, and ask yourself: how did it get to be so good? With all the hype in the design world about creativity and brainstorming, it’s easy to imagine that great designs simply appear, out of the blue. Someone conjures up a new idea, and it just needs to be translated from sketch to product. Maybe many details need to be added, but the quality of the design was there at the start—like a tiny seed that grows spontaneously into a magnificent tree. A much better model of design is described by George Saunders in his book A

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