The best products don't feel innovative. They feel obvious.
When you first use them, you don't think "wow, this is revolutionary." You think "why didn't this exist before?"
That's the highest compliment a product can receive.
The goal isn't to make something new. It's to make something that feels like it was always supposed to exist.
The obviousness test
Next time you're building something, ask yourself: "When someone uses this for the first time, will they feel surprised or will they feel relieved?"
Surprise means you've created something clever. Relief means you've created something necessary.
Clever is impressive. Necessary is valuable.
Examples
Think about the products you use every day without thinking about them. Your phone's calculator. Google Maps. The simple act of pulling down to refresh. None of these feel like inventions. They feel like discoveries — things that were always there, waiting for someone to uncover them.
That's what great product design does. It removes the friction between intention and action so completely that the tool disappears.
The lesson
If you have to explain your product, it's not done yet. The explanation should be the experience.
