The MAYA (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) design principle suggests that the best design falls between entirely new solutions and those that are familiar. The goal is to create something advanced enough to capture interest yet familiar enough to be accessible to users.
Industrial designer Raymond Loewy developed this concept through his experience designing iconic products such as the Coca-Cola bottle, the US Postal Service logo, the NASA spacecraft, and the Air Force One plane for U.S. presidents. Loewy advocated for a gradual design evolution, allowing users to adapt to new features comfortably. If a design is too innovative, it might alienate customers. Too familiar, it may go unnoticed. The optimal design is like Goldilocks’ choice, which is both new and recognizable, advanced yet accessible.
In his book, Industrial Design, available to borrow online for free from the Internet Archive, Loewy detailed the MAYA concept through evolution charts (p. 74-76)
Our desire is naturally to give the buying public the most advanced product that research can develop and technology can produce. Unfortunately, it has been proved time and time again that such a product does not always sell well. There seems to be for each individual product (or service, or store, or package, etc.) a critical area at which the consumer’s desire for novelty reaches what I might call the shock-zone. At that point the urge to buy reaches a plateau, and sometimes evolves into a resistance to buying. It is a sort of tug of war between the attraction to the new and fear of the unfamiliar. The adult public’s taste is not necessarily ready to accept the logical solutions to their requirements if this solution implies too vast a departure from what they have been conditioned into accepting as the norm. In other words, they will only go so far. … At this point, a design has reached what I call the MAYA (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) stage.
Raymond Loewy – Never Leave Well Enough Alone
MAYA in Action
The iPhone is a prime example of the MAYA principle. The first iPhone (2007) incorporated a touch-sensitive screen, Internet capabilities, and a sophisticated operating system. Despite its capabilities as a versatile mobile computer, Apple positioned it as a phone. This clever framing leveraged a familiar pattern, the phone, making the advanced technology more acceptable to users and reducing the cognitive load associated with learning new products.
The design evolution of the iPhone showcases a deliberate adherence to the MAYA principle
In contrast, earlier Pocket PCs or “palm-sized PCs,” developed as some of the first mobile computers, struggled to gain traction. Their complex user interfaces and lack of a coherent app ecosystem made them difficult for consumers to use. While the iPhone’s seamless integration of advanced features with a familiar design made it approachable and attractive, Pocket PCs failed to resonate with a broader audience.
The consumer is influenced in his choice of styling by two opposing factors: (a) attraction to the new and (b) resistance to the unfamiliar. As Kettering said, “People are very open-minded about new things — so long as they are exactly like the old ones.”
Raymond Loewy – Never Leave Well Enough Alone
In 2014, Google Glass introduced wearable technology with a head-mounted display and voice-activated interface. However, its unconventional design led to social discomfort or negative social connotations such as the term “Glassholes” for users who wore them in inappropriate settings, failing to gain a critical mass attraction.
Apple Watch and AirPods devices were less advanced in some respects compared to Google Glass, but they were much more acceptable and seamlessly integrated into people’s daily lives. These devices built upon familiar concepts — watches and headphones — making the transition to new functionalities smooth and intuitive. They represented the kind of advancements that people were ready for at that moment in time.
To sell something familiar, you must make it surprising, and to sell something surprising, you must make it familiar.
Derek Thompson – The four-letter code to selling anything
Another MAYA example is the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, which strategically mimics traditional gas pumps to ensure a smoother transition and broader acceptance.
It should be humble, it should not jump at you, it should blend with the surroundings… that’s good design.
AI tools should especially align with the incremental innovation approach advocated by the MAYA principle. This technique minimizes the risk of job loss by enhancing rather than replacing existing workflows, allowing humans to leverage technology for increased efficiency and creativity. For example, the chatbot and virtual assistant ChatGPT uses advanced AI but has a familiar, conversational interface that is easy to understand. GitHub Copilot, an AI-powered tool for code completion, was branded by GitHub as an “AI pair programmer.” The words here are carefully chosen: “copilot” and “pair programmer.” Don’t trust the code generated by AI, as the human is still responsible for the code.
The MAYA principle is not unique to design. It resonates with psychological and philosophical concepts such as Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, which emphasizes the importance of understanding the user’s present skills and mindset when introducing new learning experiences.
MAYA Limitations
While the MAYA principle effectively balances innovation and familiarity, it can also contribute to a cycle where products are only slightly improved with each iteration, leading to consumer fatigue and a lack of genuine innovation.
In game design, the balance between technological advancements and user familiarity is crucial. For example, popular franchises like FIFA or Call of Duty evolve incrementally, refining gameplay based on user feedback or market trends. However, there are times when radical innovation is necessary to push the boundaries of what games can be and to create entirely new experiences. Games like Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, or Portal introduced groundbreaking genres and mechanics that deviated significantly from traditional gameplay norms.
In Hollywood, MAYA can be observed through the use of high-concept pitch (a single sentence that explains an idea). For instance, the movie Speed was famously pitched as “Die Hard on a bus.” Likewise, Alien was famously described as “Jaws on a spaceship.”
While these pitches can create successful formulas that attract audiences, they can also lead to a failure to innovate. Why risk it if things work? Studios often rely on safe bets that promise a built-in audience or franchise potential, churning out formulaic sequels, reboots, and adaptations that capitalize on existing storylines or fan bases.
Of course, the more travelled path is a much safer bet for investing millions of dollars. However, similar to other industries, there will always be a pressing need for radical innovation in Hollywood, with enough examples of innovative movies to fill the pages of numerous books.
Furthermore, the MAYA principle can support planned or forced obsolescence, where products are designed with a finite lifespan to drive continuous sales. Forced obsolescence creates a sense of redundancy and stimulates artificial growth by perpetually introducing new, desirable styles or similar minor updates.
Again, Apple exemplifies this phenomenon by releasing iterative updates and emphasizing the aesthetic appeal and status symbol associated with its products. For instance, new colors introduced with iterative “S” generation iPhones (e.g., the iPhone 6S’s “Rose Gold”) not only entice people into upgrading but also distinguish an otherwise identical-looking iPhone from the previous year’s model.
Combining aspects of psychology with market research, the idea was to control consumers’ behaviour by feeding them perpetually changing, new, mouth-watering styles. Forced obsolescence was essentially a trick that encouraged redundancy and artificially stimulated growth.
The concept continues. Old is made new. New is made newer. Sometimes, new is made old, to give a sense of history and heritage.
Steven Heller, Veronique Vienne – 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic
It is also worth noting the enduring effect the opposite approach to forced obsolescence can have on consumers. Consider Volkswagen’s 1962 advertisement. It appealed to consumers by highlighting “No point in showing the latest Volkswagen. It still looks the same.”
For those who are interested in how the 1962 Volkswagen actually looked, it was the timeless Beetle
While the MAYA framework provides valuable insights into creating designs that are both advanced and acceptable, it is essential to recognize its limitations and contextual applicability. What works well in one context may be less effective in another.
Innovation can happen either evolutionary or revolutionary. Sometimes, we need revolutionary innovation and new paradigms that could become the foundation for evolutionary innovation. As much as we would try, Akin’s Laws of Spacecraft Design stipulate that:
You can’t get to the moon by climbing successively taller trees.
So, MAYA is nothing more than a model, a simplified representation of real-world systems. But, as Box’s Law suggests, all models are wrong, but some are useful. And sometimes, it does happen that MAYA could be practical enough to be useful.