Pablo Sánchez’s 7 Rules for Designing the Unexpected | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Pablo Sánchez argues that memorable digital products come from personal conviction, unexpected sources of inspiration, and a willingness to imagine alternatives to the present. His work on Ableton Note demonstrates this approach: instead of reproducing conventional music-production tools, the app emphasizes tactile, immediate experimentation through features like “Capture,” which loops phrases after they are played.

Design for Yourself

• Strong design begins with personal conviction rather than detached objectivity.
• Designers should create something that inspires them, since personal enthusiasm can make the final product feel authentic.
• For Ableton Note, Sánchez replaced an expected MIDI editor with directly playable instruments suited to mobile interaction.
• User testing later validated the direction, and the app launched without a MIDI editor.
• Note lets users tap rhythms on a 16-pad grid, play melodies and chords, and develop variations in Session View.

Brainstorm Without References

• Starting with existing design references can lock a team into familiar solutions.
• Brainstorming without references encourages ideas drawn from personal experience and absorbed cultural influences.
• Sánchez describes this process as creating an “assemblage” from the collective ideas designers carry with them.
• Although Note’s influences were not copied directly, apps such as Samplr and Borderlands Granular contributed to its creative foundation.

Look Beyond Design

• Inspiration can come from literature, dance, nature, science, emotions, and personal memories—not only other interfaces.
• Sánchez wanted Note to feel as immediate as picking up a guitar and experimenting.
• He also drew from Brutalist architecture, particularly its emphasis on materiality, simplicity, and the removal of unnecessary ornament.
• This led to a minimal interface that reduces the complexity of music production and lets users interact directly with sound.
• Note includes features such as a microphone-based sampler and a visual sound interface.

Design for Tomorrow

• Sánchez distinguishes between:
  • Affirmative design, which solves existing problems and reinforces the current world.
  • Critical design, which questions current conditions and explores how the world could be different.
• Unexpected design combines both approaches by imagining new possibilities while encouraging people to investigate them.
• Designers are encouraged to speculate beyond present assumptions rather than simply repeating familiar patterns.
• The article invokes xenofeminist thinking—“If nature is unjust, change nature!”—as an example of challenging supposedly fixed conditions.

The excerpt presents unexpected design as a practice of trusting personal intuition, combining diverse influences, and designing toward possibilities that do not yet exist. Ableton Note illustrates how a focused, unconventional vision can produce a more playful and distinctive experience than simply implementing expected features.