For as much as designers like to use the iPod as an example, seven years after its launch, we’re still as a group mostly ignorant of how it was made. There is still a mystique around it. Enter The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness by Steven Levy. I want to call it a lost classic, except that it’s only been out about two years or so. But I seldom hear designers reference it, with one exception.

When I worked for Adaptive Path, there was an amazing quote from Steve Jobs (he of many amazing quotes), which was this:

When you start looking at a problem, and it seems really simple with all these simple solutions, you don’t really understand the complexity of the problem. And your solutions are way too simplified and they don’t work. Then you get into the problem and you see it’s really complicated. And you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s sort of the middle, and it’s where most people stop, and the solutions tend to work for a while. But the really great person will keep on going and find, sort of, the key underlying principle of the problem. And come up with an beautiful elegant solution that works.

That quote is, as you’ve probably guessed by now, from The Perfect Thing.

I thought the The Perfect Thing was really oddly structured until I read on the back flap that the chapters are shuffled, so depending on what copy you have, the order will vary. But there is a lot for designers of whatever stripe to read and enjoy.

Product designers will probably enjoy the chapter called “Cool” which prominently features the reclusive Jony Ive. And although Ive still doesn’t say much “[We designed] a product that was efficient, elegant, and simple” (Ooook, we got that), he does have some interesting statements about color: “a bold neutral.” The other chapter that will interest product and interaction designers is “Origin,” about how the iPod was initially prototyped. Especially interesting is the description of the pitch session to Jobs, hiding what was to be the preferred prototype under a bowl until a reveal.

Strategists and managers will appreciate the “Download” and “Apple” chapters, dealing with (respectively) how Jobs got the music executives to play ball and how Jobs inspired the company to start making great products again.

Jobs did not invent the device, but he created the conditions that made it possible and focused on ensuring the end result would meet his exacting standards…Jobs can be capricious, but the persistent application of a standard of excellence–excellence that, at a minimum, must surpass all previous efforts–is a powerful tactic for any commercial or creative enterprise. The path of least resistance is accepting work that is, well, acceptable. But what if a company considers merely acceptable work as unacceptable? What is good excuses for not pulling off a tough task are rejected? What do you et when even people’s A-minus projects are curtly tossed back in their faces, with the implication that if they don’t deliver A-plus perhaps they would be happier somewhere else?

You get Apple.

Recommended.