'Design' is a word that's come to mean so much that it's also a word that has come to mean nothing.

We struggle with the right words to describe the design process at Apple. But it is very much about designing and prototyping and making.

I like to work in a small team. There is only 18 of us on the design team. Nobody has ever left.

Apple's Industrial Design team is harder to get into than the Illuminati, and part of the reason is because no one leaves. In the last 15 years, not one of the 18 designers has ditched Apple for greener pastures.

It is sad that so many designers don't know how to make. CAD software can make a bad design look palatable! It is sad that four years can be spent on a 3D design course without making anything! People who are great at designing and making have a great advantage.

One of the things that is particularly precious about working at Apple is that many of us on the design team have worked together for 15-plus years, and there's a wonderful thing about learning as a group. A fundamental part of that is making mistakes together.