Legos are essentially simple in concept and design. The underlying ideas behind the iPod are just as simple. Like many lasting ideas in the sciences, Legos and the iPod encompasses simplicity in concept, yet complexity in implication and aftereffect.

In art, what makes an art piece is not the amount of paint on canvas, or the amount of time spent. The success of a piece is dependent on how it relates and resonates with the viewer. This is often achieved by leaving negative space (physical or philosophical) so that the viewer’s own imagination may roam—another kind of customization.

What makes products like legos and the iPod successful are the way they let the consumer be an active part of the design process. Both provide the resources to customize and build—they let the customer’s imagination roam.

Powerful designs have the flexibility to adapt to the desires of their users, they respond, are organic, and evolve.