Jacob__2__I

Apple had to consider a vast audience when designing the Mac OS X operating system user interface. Having said that, there is a lot about the interface that is very intuitive: the dock and its icons, the icons and their reactions to the mouse, notifications occurring on the desktop upon the detection of new drives rather than off-screen (and many more features that were or were not mentioned last week in class). Simple concepts, yet very powerful.

I think "Genius-Design" favors the simple, direct approach. What do I mean by that? I think that "Genius-Design" is maximized when the design lends itself to little effort on the part of the human yet yields robust results on the part of the designed entity. Take the iPhone or iPod Touch for example. Simply by tapping one of the many, glossy buttons in the main applications menu, I have access to a massive amount of content - some might argue a virtually infinite amount of content (because anyone can write an application for the iPhone now provided that they have the proper resources). And, if I don't have something I want, I can tap a button on that same menu to search for an application. Once I've found the application, I download it by pressing a similar, glossy button. Another glossy button appears on that same main menu; then, I have what I want. It is all in one place, and it is all activated the same way: tapping an easily recognized button with my finger! Again: simple, yet powerful.