Design for Delight

The Design Philosophy at Intuit

I had the privilege of visiting the Intuit campus yesterday, thanks to my friend, Vince. Over lunch, he began to explain to me the background of the company in regards to design. Intuit used to be just your regular Silicon Valley tech company until they made a change. The company’s leader decided to start pushing design in the forefront, and not just as an afterthought. Through a long process, they eventually became a design driven company.

“Design for Delight.”

At Intuit, you’ll see this phrase emblazoned everywhere. That is what they believe and that is the message they preach. This design philosophy can be broken down into three simple principles.

Deep Customer Empathy

In order to “design for delight,” you must know your customer. But it goes beyond just knowing who your customers are. It means seeing the world through their eyes. What are their problems? What do they need? You must become the customer. By doing so, then you are one step closer to designing for delight.

Go Broad to Narrow

Once you have figured out your customer and their needs, you need to start figuring out solutions to their challenges. This is when you quickly start coming up with many different ideas. Remember, your first idea might not always be your best. Just because something has always been done a certain way, doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved upon. Come up with different options first, then start narrowing down and choosing what idea will really solve the problem in a delightful way.

Rapid Experiments with Customers

The purpose of experimentation is to learn, and not to prove that your idea was right. Rapid prototyping is key. Get the idea out there and test it with your customers. You might think your idea is great, but you’re not just building the product for yourself. See how it works in real life.

Although I was only able to meet with Vince for a short period of time, I learned a myriad of different things. It was really helpful to sit down and chat with an expert about UX design, and how it is crucial in building a great product. I’m looking forward to attending their design thinking session this coming Wednesday and learning more.

This post was also published on my new blog.