Sublime

Atop the brochure McKenna put a maxim, often attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, that would become the defining precept of Jobs’s design philosophy: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Fuller is something of a philosopher of digital design; his podcast “Scratching the Surface” canvasses experts in the field. In the past decade, he argues, a “user-centered” approach to design has been replaced by what he has taken to calling a “corporation-centered” approach. Rather than optimizing for the user’s experience, it optimizes for the... See more

Software startups face the same dilemma. Basecamp’s founders famously turned down VC money and capped headcount. They wanted to stay small on purpose. Not to signal humility, to preserve sovereignty. They understood that the minute you optimize for scale, you subordinate every other variable to it. Product quality, user intimacy, personal time -... See more