How Apple wins BIG in design

Apple is undoubtedly the worlds favourite brand and will continue to remain so for many years to come. They have developed a very unique taste in design and it is so functional, it easily gets loved by most people. Often many of the first time users consider their product just to fit into the ecosystem that’s any marketers dream and there are very few companies who have achieved such zen in the ever so crowded marketplace.

The curiosity about apple products led me to deep dive into everything apple let people touch, see and feel. To my surprise, the discoveries are in abundance, there is so much to talk. In this post I’m going to share some of the best practices they implement, I’ve put them into the Six categories, and I’ll post it on every Sunday one at a time.

Let’s kick this off with the most familiar: The apple.com

1. Craftsmanship in contrast and legibility

You’ll find most of the product pages against a darker background because you’ll achieve maximum contrast against it, one simple rule is, it is easy to drive the attention in the absence of light, you’ll find white only if there is to introduce contrast or colour in any of the product lineups. You won’t find any page which has not optimised for contrast and legibility. There is always enough of thinking/ breathing space which later enforce more focus on content in a simple psychology rule time spent = rewards.

High contrast landing pages

Few more examples of high contrast across all site:

2. Minimal and phonetically engaging content

Apple has always referred to minimalism, this even reflects into their text content describing their products. If you observe it carefully has brought in rhythm to it as it has in the kindergarten books. This highly effective way of messaging manages to remain in the subconscious even after you exit the webpage or done watching the commercial. It simply works because we’re used to it for a very long time.

Captured few of the product tag-lines

And their phonetics

3. Driving focus like a wizard

Apple has always been the most psychologically advanced company as far as the design is concerned, there is always some intent placed in everything you see from apple. The design teams at Apple knows how to play with your focus and deviate it where exactly they want you to.

Here is a quick demonstration of how that works on a few of their iPhone SE product landing page:

Only the product is in the plain sight, but psychologically this is a highly advanced level of craftsmanship.

See how your focus moves in action, everything is contributing to that and working to drive your attention in a very specific way.

Another example for iPhone 11:

Another simple but highly complex piece of art

Attention trajectory specific angular placement of phones, this is shape based focus movement.

These photos are very intentional and work in sync with shape-based movement, look at these three human emotions from left: 1. Very Happy 2. Curious 3. Serious

A quick-take: You can’t fit in one product in single page, there will always be a layover of the next one or previous one and you can’t control that. This is just to make you more curious about what’s there on the other side and asking you to browse that as well.

The iPhone 11 text there, it is there for a reason to push you forward. There are no arrows popping around but an iPhone 11 waiting for you to be explored.

4. The art of three

You know if there are three things those will automatically start making sense, you know the pricing strategy and emphasis on the right one for you. This simple rule of three goes well beyond just pricing with apple. You’ll see this everywhere on the site. Be it three Apple Watches, three lines of texts, even three photos of iPhone 11 pro’s, let me put some lights on:

Some examples: Three Apple Watches, three lines of texts and three iPhone 11 Pro’s

5. The game of guess

Apple puts you in the picture where-ever possible and lets you take the guess< take a call< make a decision< make a perception. This is another insightful tool they have in their psychological arsenal. To understand this better check how the images are used and where the call to action is placed.

Let me put this in a perspective from a sample image below:

Who is in charge of this conversation? and who is getting convinced?

Why there are many blank chairs in between? You speak to someone (Left) — Apple speaking to you (Right)

Wrapping up!

There is so much to learn from apple and there is so much they know about human psychology. Apple is undoubtedly the premium technology company ever the world has witnessed and it will continue to be on the horizon for a long time. The design systems as a tool they have internally seem far more advanced and complex to the outside community, we can only take a few hints from it and make our products more amazing.

See you next Sunday with another post on Apple’s packaging.