Flipboard founder Mike McCue believes sometimes you need to ignore the data if you want to create a revolutionary product with a soul.
"When is it important to ignore the data?" McCue asked the audience at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. His answer was simple: You need to throw out the data when you need to build something truly new. Not just a new iteration, but a whole new class of product.
McCue pointed to the 1957 Jaguar XKSS (pictured above), a sleek and beautiful designed by artists rather than data crunchers. He compared it to Honda Insight, which is one of the most aerodynamic cars on the market, but, McCue said, doesn’t evoke emotion or have soul.
"The soul of this car was designed out by the data," McCue argues.
McCue said that these design principles are the foundation of Flipboard. The iPad app features full-screen articles and vibrant photos to evoke emotion out of the audience, regardless of the data. It's the same principle magazines' graphic design applies to draw readers into their pages.
"It's important sometimes to look at the data and use it to enhance what we have," McCue said. "But when you want to have a breakthrough product ... you've got to be willing to back away from the data."