Groking Design

by steve jobs - apple computers

"Grokking Design. Design is a funny word.
Some people think design means how it looks.
But of course, if you dig deeper,
it's really how it works...To design something
really well, you have to get it. You really have
to grok what it's all about. It takes a
passionate commitment to really thoroughly
understand something, chew it up, not just
quickly swallow it. Most people don't take
the time to do that. Creativity is just
connecting things. When you ask creative
people how they did something, they feel
a little guilty because they didn't really
do it, they just saw something. It just
seemed obvious to them after a while.
That's because they were able to connect
experiences they've had and
synthesize new things."

grok (grak) vt. vi. [coined in a 1961
science-fiction novel by R. A. Heinlien]
to understand thoroughly because of
having empathy with.