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

Donald A. Norman

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Donald A. Norman
Avoid
Necessary
Complications
Long
Intelligible
Needless
Complication
Acceptable
Complexity
Simplicity

More quotes by Donald A. Norman

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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.
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Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability - they should go hand in hand.
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If you think the products don't match what you want from a product, don't buy it.
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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.
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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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The world is complex, and so too must be the activities that we perform. But that doesn't mean that we must live in continual frustration. No. The whole point of human-centered design is to tame complexity, to turn what would appear to be a complicated tool into one that fits the task, that is understandable, usable, enjoyable.
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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If you're more susceptible to interruption, you do more out of the box thinking.
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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.
Donald A. Norman
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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.
Donald A. Norman
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Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right.
Donald A. Norman
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The design of everyday things is in great danger of becoming the design of superfluous, overloaded, unnecessary things.
Donald A. Norman
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The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.
Donald A. Norman
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Go to the bookstore and look at how many bookshelves are filled with books trying to explain how to work the devices. We don't see shelves of books on how to use television sets, telephones, refrigerators or washing machines. Why should we for computer-based applications?
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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When I use a direct manipulation system whether for text editing, drawing pictures, or creating and playing games I do think of myself not as using a computer but as doing the particular task. The computer is, in effect, invisible. The point cannot be overstressed: make the computer system invisible.
Donald A. Norman
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Readers always seem to think that the author has some control over the design of their books.
Donald A. Norman
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In my opinion, no single design is apt to be optimal for everyone.
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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To me, error analysis is the sweet spot for improvement.
Donald A. Norman