Sensitivity_Hi-fi Iterations

The relentless pursuit of 'Better'

Jony Ive

At the start of a project, explore widely—sketch many directions, try bold ideas. But when it’s time to narrow down, what really makes a design strong is sensitivity: noticing the little things—When a curve accelerates too slowly, when proportions are off, or when details lose unity. Most people can’t explain why something feels right or wrong, but they can sense it. As designers, your job is to train that sensitivity and back it up with clear design reasoning, so your work isn’t just different—it’s better!

Early Sketches Capture

Stance & Attitude

When you see a sketch online that looks nothing like the car that finally rolls off the line, remember: you might be witnessing its wildest breath, its freest heartbeat, before compromise set in.

More Structured Refinement

Establish Clarity and Feasibility

The ability to move from free imagination to structured refinement — while carrying the spirit of the original idea through layers of technical and business considerations — is what allows a product to resonate with users and still succeed in production.

High Fidelity Iterations

Master visual literacy to shape perception.

Design logic is the full rationale behind a design—covering functional, structural integrity, cultural, and visual dimensions. Visual literacy is the ability to shape perception, make consistent, deliberate choices in form, proportion, and unity so that the design ‘makes sense’ visually. Train yourself not only to sense these choices but also to explain and defend them.

Take utilitarian design as an example: even when functionality and usability are the first priority, structural integrity sets constraints. The task of design is to elevate beyond a engineering solution,

to craft meaningful messages that allow the object to speak – Shape trust, communicate precision, highlight features, raise awareness, and inspire early adoption.–Stay in your lane!- from Tim Anness

Mid-fi iterations.

Hi-fi iterations.

Yepeng Ma, Class of 2025, DAAP.

Thinking with Light

Perception is rooted in light: the brain reads highlights, edges, and contrast first.

Human vision processes highlights and edges differently than shadows. The brain uses luminance contrast, edges, and shading to infer 3D form. This is a well-established principle in perceptual psychology and vision science.

Thinking with light helps designers see how form is perceived, and why certain lines or surfaces feel more prominent to users.