Tonic's rules to live by

Be kind

• Put things where they belong.
  • Few are won over by misplaced, misalinged, misdesigned anything.
  • Form, really, is a function. Be kind to the user.
• Observe a lot.
• Test everything—because sometimes "common sense" is neither.
• It's hard to make every product so understandable that people know how to use it before they pick it up.
• But it's worth shooting for.

Apple Powerbook (1991)

Make things simple, but beautiful

• Elegant and timeless beat fancy, gimmicky, or slick. Any day.

Digidesign RI recording controller (1993)

Make people lust for it

• Give it a competitive advantage.
  • Make it worth looking at.
  • Make it worth holding.
  • Make it worth using.
  • Make it worth paying good money for.
• If the guy next to you on the train had one, would you be more than a little curious? Envious? Good.

Apple Newton prototype (1992) and Powerbook Duo (1992)

Make it makeable

• It doesn't matter how beautiful the thing is if you can't manufacture it.
  • Befriend the engineering team.
  • Collaborate with the factory.
• Instead of designing yourself into a corner, ask for their opinions. So you can produce it—by the thousands. By the millions. Affordably.

Apple Personal Laserwriter (1990) and Macintosh IIci (1990)

Invent the future

• If you don't like your destiny, invent a new one.
• Have some fun. Experiment.
• Invent a new product category. (Or a whole new industry.)
• Invent a new design language.
• Reset the corporate compass.

"It can't be done," the naysayers will declare. Don't listen.

AT&T Personal Communicator concept (1992), Apple Guide concept (1991) and Knowledge Navigator concept (1987)

Tonic's "Rules to live by" are quoted without permission from a little booklet I got at the SIGGRAPH '93. © 1993 Tonic Industrial Design, Palo Alto, California, (415) 325-1326, (415) 326-4678, fax. All rights reserved.