Designer David Kelley discusses close friend and collaborator Steve Jobs in CBS interview

Apple's first mouse was designed in collaboration with David Kelley's design firm.Source: Flickr/Marcin Wichary via Business Insider

Over the 12-minute interview with Charlie Rose, Kelley outlines the philosophy behind "design thinking," an approach based on empathy for the consumer, or figuring out what people want by observing their behavior. Also key to the process is collaboration and brainstorming between a diverse team of workers with wildly varied backgrounds, which includes software engineers to journalists.

In 1978, Kelley's firm was contracted by late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs to come up with the company's first mouse, a single-button trackball design that was both intuitive and simple to operate. The meeting sparked a long relationship between Kelley and Jobs, one that would yield computer designs like the Apple III and the Lisa.

While not the focus of the interview, Jobs was mentioned more than once including a story about Kelley's battle with cancer. As Kelley tells it, when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, Jobs, who was also fighting an ultimately fatal bout with pancreatic cancer, told Kelley to move straight to Western medicine and forego holistic treatments. Jobs was known to have attempted herbal remedies before moving to more conventional cancer treatments.

Kelley's CBS interview is embedded below, with more anecdotes regarding his relationship with Jobs at the 3:00 and 7:30 marks.