Donald A. Norman Quotes

The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.

Isn't one of your first exercises in learning how to communicate to write a description of how to tie your shoelaces? The point being that it's basically impossible to use text to show that

Technology may change rapidly, but people change slowly. The principals [of design] come from understanding of people. They remain true forever.

Also note that invariably when we design something that can be used by those with disabilities, we often make it better for everyone

When a device as simple as a door has to come with an instruction manual—even a one-word manual—then it is a failure, poorly designed.

I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them

Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.

Innocence lost is not easily regained. The designer simply cannot predict the problems people will have, the misinterpretations that will arise, and the errors that will get made.

Knowing how people will use something is essential

Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right.

I believe that the Apple Shuffle is an excellent compromise among the conflicting requirements of simplicity, elegance, size, battery life, and function

Complexity is acceptable as long as it is intelligible and necessary. We want to avoid needless complications.

The major problems facing the development of products that are safer, less prone to error, and easier to use and understand are not technological: they are social and organizational.

It is relatively easy to design for the perfect cases, when everything goes right, or when all the information required is available in proper format

Attractive things work better When you wash and wax a car, it drives better, doesn’t it? Or at least feels like it does.

AS for all those mistakes I make - they are on purpose - to teach you how to deal with them

You won't catch me giving clear lectures.

Behavioral design is all about feeling in control. Includes: usability, understanding, but also the feel.

How do you discover a need that nobody yet knows about? This is where the product breakthroughs come through.

Creeping featurism is a disease, fatal if not treated promptly. There are some cures, but, as usual, the best approach is to practice preventative medicine.

I prefer design by experts - by people who know what they are doing

I'm not a fan of technology . I'm a fan of pedagogy, of understanding how people learn and the most effective learning methods. But technology enables some exciting changes.

I've been looking at the iPod- the Apple iPod. One of the interesting things about the iPod, one of the things that people love most about it is not the technology; it's the box it comes in

Our information lives will be better served when we are free to get to our information from wherever we are, with any device available.

To me, error analysis is the sweet spot for improvement.

Having the best product means nothing if the people won't buy it.

The problem with emotion was that it was clearly something important, but-at least according to the old philosophy-it was something to overcome.

If you're more susceptible to interruption, you do more out of the box thinking.

Am I an Apple bigot? No. I can critique their products and their customer service philosophy. But overall, they do better than any other player.

Learning should take place when it is needed, when the learner is interested, not according to some arbitrary, fixed schedule

The best kind of design isn't necessarily an object, a space, or a structure: it's a process- dynamic and adaptable.

A big ethical question is what happens after people stop using the device. Does it degrade the environment? Could it have been designed so it would actually be good for the environment?

Simplicity design axiom: The complexity of the information appliance is that of the task, not the tool. The technology is invisible.

What makes something simple or complex? It's not the number of dials or controls or how many features it has: It is whether the person using the device has a good conceptual model of how it operates.

Any time you see signs or labels added to a device, it is an indication of bad design: a simple lock should not require instructions.

It is the duty of machines and those who design them to understand people. It is not our duty to understand the arbitrary, meaningless dictates of machines.

The current paradigm is so thoroughly established that the only way to change is to start over again.

Attractive things work better.

A challenge to the designers of the world: Make signs unnecessary.

The design of everyday things is in great danger of becoming the design of superfluous, overloaded, unnecessary things.

In design it is important to shoe the effect of an action. ... Feedback is critical.

People Propose, Science Studies, Technology Conforms.

A good designer will actually design the company.

Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.

It was always amusing to be inside Apple and read what journalists said we were doing

Market segmentation s a natural result of the vast differences among people

Only the most sophisticated of beings can lie and cheat, and get away with it.

Forget the complaints against complexity; instead, complain about confusion.

Scientists are always skeptics.

In the university, professors make up artificial problems. In the real world, the problems do not come in nice, neat packages. They have to be discovered.