Bob Baxley
Design Executive & Advisor at Apple / Pinterest / Yahoo / ThoughtSpot
Designer, executive, and advisor who built and led design teams at Apple, Pinterest, Yahoo, and ThoughtSpot over three decades; played pivotal roles in designing the Apple Online Store, Apple App Store, Pinterest, and Yahoo Answers.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Bob Baxley, a three-decade design leader at Apple, Pinterest, Yahoo, and ThoughtSpot, shares a deeply philosophical perspective on design as imagining and building the future, not just making things pretty. He distinguishes between design-led and designer-led companies, explains why Apple's design culture can't be replicated by hiring Apple alumni, and argues that product builders have a moral obligation to improve the hundreds of daily technology interactions people have.
Leadership Principles
- → Design is trying to imagine the future you want to live in and then take the steps to make it real
- → A company being design-led does not mean it's designer-led — design-led culture must be in the root DNA from the beginning, you can't graft it on later
- → We have an obligation as product people to put emotional energy back into people's lives through the hundreds of daily interactions they have with technology
Notable Quotes
"Design is trying to imagine the future you want to live in and then take the steps to make it real. Saying a company is design-led does not mean it's designer-led. I've never seen somebody graft it on after the fact. It's there at the beginning in the root DNA or doesn't exist."
— On what design truly means and why design culture can't be retrofitted
"Almost everyone living in a modern economy now is going to have hundreds of interactions with a phone or with a computer. And unfortunately, a lot of those interactions are not going to be great. We have an obligation as product people to put that emotional energy back into people's lives."
— On the moral obligation of product builders
"Steve listed the products he was most proud of: Apple II, the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, Apple retail — and then he said Apple itself. The products are ephemeral, but there's something about the culture that's lasted a very long time."
— On Steve Jobs viewing Apple's culture as his greatest product
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