In my opinion, design standards such as Apple’s create an interesting dilemma for designers. One could argue that such documents, specifically the enforcement of such documents in a way that seems unilateral from publisher to designer, limits the freedom that designers should have to fully express their ideas. That’s a valid point: by setting strict design guidelines, and barring access to an audience for work that does not conform to those guidelines, an organization like Apple could be stifling innovation — think about all the extra time a developer has to spend to design around those standards.

But would there even be an audience if not for these guidelines? If there are noticeable design discrepancies between e.g. the most commonly used apps, would the overall experience of using a device be pleasant enough to retain an audience’s interest? There is a reason why these guidelines exist — they are heavily informed by user experience research, they consider how differently-abled users could interact with an interface, and they seek to create some semblance of consistency amongst the hundreds of apps that could exist on a device, among other things. Details like being mindful of connotations of colors in different cultures. These considerations make the experience of using a device enjoyable. If a designer disregards these well-researched standards but fails to come up with equally-sound design considerations of their own, then they are going to end up with a bad product. And if an organization like Apple allows bad products on their platform, they are going to end up with a bad platform. It is as simple as that. Great design is invisible — design standards are so often taken for granted, that we do not notice their presence and thus making it easy for us to criticize them. What would the digital world look like without them, and how inclined would you be to spend time in such a world?