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It has been said that the great scientific disciplines are examples of giants standing on the shoulders of other giants. It has also been said that the software industry is an example of midgets standing on the toes of other midgets.

Alan Cooper

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Alan Cooper
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: June 3
Computer Scientist
Software Programmer
Writer
San Francisco County
California
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More quotes by Alan Cooper

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A powerful tool in the early stages of developing scenarios is to pretend the interface is magic. If your persona has goals and the product has magical powers to meet them, how simple could the interaction be? This kind of thinking is useful to help designers look outside the box.
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Design principle: Take things away until the design breaks, then put that last thing back in.
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You can get spiritual things out of books and stories and they have nothing to do with religion.
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While making art you should just do what is in your heart.
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No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it.
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You Don't Have to Go Home from Work Exhausted!
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Well madam, have you looked in the mirror and seen the state of your nose? Boxing is my excuse. What's yours?
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It's harder than you might think to squander millions of dollars, but a flawed software development process is a tool well suited to the job.
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Computers no longer interface with humans--they interact, and the interaction will become steadily deeper, more subtle, and more crucial to our collective sanity and ultimate survival.
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If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.
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We don't fight about music. We don't fight about artistic direction. The things like that we could fight about, we really don't. We are pretty lucky for that.
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Men do not greet one another like this ... except perhaps at rugby club dinners.
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Keep it simple: In general, interfaces should use simple geometric forms, minimal contours, and a restricted color palette comprised primarily of less-saturated or neutral colors balanced with a few high contrast accent colors that emphasize important information. Typography should not vary widely in an interface.
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Just how do I design if not with prototyping? An excellent question. The short answer is 'on paper.'
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I just like so many different kinds of music that I like experimenting. I don't want to keep making the same record over and over and over. I'm an 'evolve or die' kind of a musician. I think it's cool to try new things.
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I just try and learn to be a good husband and be a good father before I am a good rock star. That means saying no to certain things that go with the business.
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There's only one thing you can use against pure logic, and that's common sense.
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One of the most heinous, insidious lies is the notion that you have to be an asshole to be a successful business person.
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Usability methods are like sandpapering a chair. If you are making a chair, the sandpaper can make it smoother. But no amount of sandpaper will turn a chair into a table.
Alan Cooper
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If you are not going to produce albums then you are not going to produce new fans. It's impossible. I'm a huge believer in putting music out as quickly as early as possible, touring hard and then working on putting the next one out. I don't need to break. I just need to put a record out.
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