Jobs rejects the idea that design is mainly a decorative layer added after a product has been created. He argues that appearance and feel matter, but they are only part of a broader process. In his view, design includes the way a product behaves, how its parts fit together and how easily people can understand and use it.

The quote reflects an integrated approach in which engineering, interaction and visual form are developed together rather than treated as separate stages. A product that looks attractive but is confusing or unreliable would therefore represent incomplete design. The underlying principle is that successful design should shape the whole experience of using something, not merely its surface. This view is particularly relevant to product development, where decisions about materials, interfaces, software and engineering can all influence usability. Jobs presents design as a practical discipline concerned with both function and form.

Full quotation

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s C.E.O. “People think it’s this veneer—that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”