love this distinction between levels of design. truly higher level designs are designing solutions instead of features, outcomes instead of products. there's no function more important than this.
Behaviors/dynamics can be discussed and analyzed as discrete "objects" under your control. Design discussions should often be taking place at the level of the dynamic rather than the level of the functionality. Identify what behavior you want to change first, then piece together the necessary functionality that you believe will enable that... See more
fascinating insights on designing products from the previous head of design at Quora. think of the dynamic, not the functionality, then piece together the necessary functionality.
As a practical matter, I think it's easier to see ugliness than to imagine beauty. Most of the people who've made beautiful things seem to have done it by fixing something that they thought ugly. Great work usually seems to happen because someone sees something and thinks,
Despite hundreds of features, the navigation bar at the bottom of the WeChat screen is four icons: Chat, Contacts, Discover, Me. Zhang: “I told the team to establish a rule that WeChat shall always have a four-icon bar, and never add anything to it.”