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

Donald A. Norman

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Donald A. Norman
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More quotes by Donald A. Norman

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Hypertext makes a virtue out of lack of organization, allowing ideas and thoughts to be juxtaposed at will. [...] The advent of hypertext is apt to make writing much more difficult, not easier. Good writing, that is.
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Having the best product means nothing if the people won't buy it.
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I think a successful company is one where everybody owns the same mission. Out of necessity, we divide ourselves up into discipline groups. But the goal when you are actually doing the work is to somehow forget what discipline group you are in and come together. So in that sense, nobody should own user experience everybody should own it.
Donald A. Norman
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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
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When you have trouble with things—whether it's figuring out whether to push or pull a door or the arbitrary vagaries of the modern computer and electronics industries—it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself: blame the designer.
Donald A. Norman
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We are victims of our own success. We have let technology lead the way, pushing ever faster to newer, faster, and more powerful systems, with nary a moment to rest, contemplate, and to reflect upon why, how, and for whom all this energy has been expended.
Donald A. Norman
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Attractive things work better When you wash and wax a car, it drives better, doesn’t it? Or at least feels like it does.
Donald A. Norman
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Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.
Donald A. Norman
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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.
Donald A. Norman
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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.
Donald A. Norman
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The current paradigm is so thoroughly established that the only way to change is to start over again.
Donald A. Norman
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I think there is a tendency in science to measure what is measurable and to decide that what you cannot measure must be uninteresting.
Donald A. Norman
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User experience is really the whole totality. Opening the package good example. It's the total experience that matters. And that starts from when you first hear about a product experience is more based upon memory than reality. If your memory of the product is wonderful, you will excuse all sorts of incidental things.
Donald A. Norman
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How do you discover a need that nobody yet knows about? This is where the product breakthroughs come through.
Donald A. Norman
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No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service - from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly. That's systems thinking.
Donald A. Norman
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I prefer design by experts - by people who know what they are doing
Donald A. Norman
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Attractive things work better.
Donald A. Norman
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Good design is also an act of communication between the designer and the user, except that all the communication has to come about by the appearance of the device itself. The device must explain itself.
Donald A. Norman
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Technology may change rapidly, but people change slowly. The principals [of design] come from understanding of people. They remain true forever.
Donald A. Norman
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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.
Donald A. Norman