Quote

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

Donald A. Norman

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Donald A. Norman
Superfluous
Unnecessary
Everyday
Danger
Design
Becoming
Great
Things
Overloaded

More quotes by Donald A. Norman

Image
The current paradigm is so thoroughly established that the only way to change is to start over again.
Donald A. Norman
Image
I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them
Donald A. Norman
Image
I believe that the Apple Shuffle is an excellent compromise among the conflicting requirements of simplicity, elegance, size, battery life, and function
Donald A. Norman
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Forget the complaints against complexity instead, complain about confusion.
Donald A. Norman
Image
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.
Donald A. Norman
Image
The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.
Donald A. Norman
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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.
Donald A. Norman
Image
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
Image
Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability - they should go hand in hand.
Donald A. Norman
Image
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
Donald A. Norman
Image
If you're more susceptible to interruption, you do more out of the box thinking.
Donald A. Norman
Image
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
Image
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
Image
In my opinion, no single design is apt to be optimal for everyone.
Donald A. Norman
Image
Simplification is as much in the mind as it is in the device.
Donald A. Norman
Image
Readers always seem to think that the author has some control over the design of their books.
Donald A. Norman