Jony Ive explains the importance of giving form to an abstract idea

The way that we design to start with is to talk, and it's fairly exclusive. It only involves a few people, and a remarkable thing happens in the process. And it's the point in the process where there is the greatest change, and it's when we give form to an abstract idea. So the abstract idea is fairly exclusive and really doesn't involve very many people. As soon as there's a physical object, we will draw, and we make a lot of models. It can be metal or it can be plastic. But what I've noticed is this shift is profound. It really galvanizes and provides a focus to an entire team. And very often when they're struggling with these sort of abstract, tentative ideas, suddenly I think you've got a sort of a flag that in many ways it won't become the final design, but what it does do is describe what we're trying to do. There is just something very special about when you have an object. We're physical beings, and when there's an object to touch, everything shifts. It's always been the case. And what just shocks me is that I remain surprised and thrilled every time you get that first model.