What Apple’s design genius taught me about branding

It started with a laptop and a YouTube rabbit hole in my college hostel.

I was watching a behind-the-scenes video about Apple’s product launches. You know, the ones with the white background, the British voiceover, and the slow, sexy pans across a piece of aluminum.

Halfway through, I paused the video. Not because I was bored. Because I was stunned.

Jony Ive wasn’t selling me a phone. He was selling me a path to the future dystopia. For context: Jony was best known as the visionary designer behind Apple's most iconic products. As Apple's Chief Design Officer, he led the creation of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, Apple Watch, and even the sleek aesthetic of iOS 7 .

And that’s when it hit me: I’d been designing all wrong.

Back then, I thought good design meant making things look cool. Slick gradients. Fancy mockups. Endless font options. Clients loved it. My ego loved it more.

But my work? It lacked soul.

Because it wasn’t built for people. It was built to impress other designers. And it showed.

Our projects looked sharp, but they didn’t stick. Clients came back confused. Customers didn’t get the brand. Everyone nodded politely… but nobody cared.

It took a quiet voice with a British accent to shake me up. Jony Ive once said,

“Simplicity is not the absence of clutter, it’s the absence of complexity.”

That changed everything.

I went deep. Studied every Apple keynote. Sketched wireframes like a man possessed. Read about Dieter Rams. Obsessed over every Apple product I could find.

And through it all, I discovered six lessons from Jony that rewired how I think about branding:

1. Design is not what it looks like. It’s what it feels like.

2. Form follows function, but form can still make you fall in love.

3. Craftsmanship isn’t a luxury — it’s the bare minimum.

4. Good design disappears. Bad design distracts.

5. Every material choice is a message.

6. Empathy beats ego. Every time.

That last one? It’s the whole game.

Great brands aren’t louder. They’re clearer. And clarity only comes when you put the user first. That’s what Jony taught me.

It’s also why I created The Brand Engine — a course that teaches branding the way Jony would’ve liked it: strategic, minimalist, and built for impact.

No fluff. No marketing hacks. Just brand clarity that actually drives business. Presale is live till June 13th. If you’re building something that deserves to be understood — not just seen, then this course is for you.

Here’s your next step:

• Join the presale of The Brand Engine before June 13th.

• Learn how to build brands that speak before they shout.

• Make your product feel like it belongs — to your audience, your story, your mission.

Get in before the door closes.

Or just reply and tell me your favorite Jony Ive product. Mine? That curved-edge iPhone 6. Poetry in your palm.

And last week OpenAI announced its acquisition of io, the AI device startup co-founded by Jony to create a new generation of AI-powered devices.

Is it the OpenAiPhone?

I’m so excited to see what Sam Altman and Jony are gonna do together.

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