Millard Drexler Quotes

Apple has beautiful design, beautiful product, incredibly functional. But mostly, it's about picking product, getting behind it, marketing it, and introducing it to a customer. What they've done just inspires me.

If you watched companies such as Sony and Samsung grow, they focused first on features and then on industrial design, which made their products look and feel better.

Everything at Apple can be best understood through the lens of designing. Whether it's designing the look and feel of the user experience, or the industrial design, or the system design, and even things like how the boards were laid out.

The payoff of a customer-centric approach to software and digital product design is substantial and long-lasting for both companies and their customers.

Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it's not a product; it's an understanding of human nature.

I have shifted my mindset in terms of how companies should... focus on building amazing products. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial.

My focus is incredibly narrow. I can't talk with any authority other than design and development of product.

Growth hackers are typically computer engineers that build great marketing ideas into the product during the development process.

Design is how you make your first impression with your consumers. Make sure it is a lasting one.

There are lots of people at our company who dedicate their time and effort to make sure that the journey from product design to hitting the screen is as seamless as possible.

It turns out it's important to build a product and not just a bunch of data models.

Face-to-face customer feedback refines or validates every component of the startup's business model, not just the product itself.

Market-driven design builds the success of the product's marketing into the product itself.

This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it.

The talent for discovering the unique and marketable characteristics of a product and service is a designer's most valuable asset.

When you're a young talent, and you want to launch your brand, you always have tons of questions: Where should I produce? Should I launch a second line? Should I do shoes, accessories? If you have someone who can coach you and give you advice and help you find the right supplier, it's a big help.

I don't think people buy technology products because of the personalities of the people behind them.

My sweet spot is figuring out how to make a product that people love and how to refine it to make them love it more. All the rest is business noise.

Marketing is what you do when your product is no good.

We built the iPod in weeks. It had to be what I thought it was going to be because there wasn't time for endless refinements.

Hammer down product fundamentals first. Make sure you've got something that works before doubling down on promotion and marketing. Create a groundswell of organic support, and only then leverage PR and advertising to spread the word.

I meet the designers very often, we discuss the products, they show me their ideas, we discuss the ad campaigns and every new invention that we can find for the future.

Most of all, I discovered that in order to succeed with a product you must truly get to know your customers and build something for them.

I love taking an idea... to a prototype and then to a product that millions of people use.

I can't understand the conditions of a corporate product being designed and getting millions. I admire it, it's great, but I don't know how to do that.