[seanmcdirmid]

> ..sounds like he's validating his own intelligence by noticing how intelligent the design is. Only time can validate great design, and it's very early days.

Sounds like you are just grinding an ax because use of the word "intellectual" to you seems way too egotistical?

Well, they could have validated the design via lots of user testing; they could have done A/B testing on multiple great designs (not just the chosen design and several crappy ones). There is a lot of work to design than just the creative work.

[collypops]

Of course they could validate the product to the best of their ability through user testing. I'm not disputing that. I'm sure they validated the iPhone 4's exterior antenna before it launched too. There's just so much you can't discover about a product until it's released into the wild.

I was wary of posting my comment because it comes off as ax grinding, which is why I prefaced it the way I did. I'm genuinely interested to see if anyone shares my opinion, or if I'm nuts. I can accept either outcome.

[seanmcdirmid]

Fair enough. Writing is actually kind of hard, and we should have some leeway in word choice and in forming our narratives without being constantly accused of egoism.

My wife is a designer, and her job involves lots of rigor even if her role is classified as creative (10% creativity, 90% perspiration!). I'm willing to give a pass to anyone who says a professional design involved "deep intellectual rigor" even if the design has yet to be evaluated by the marketplace.