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

More quotes by 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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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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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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Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.
Donald A. Norman
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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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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
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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
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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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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In design it is important to shoe the effect of an action. ... Feedback is critical.
Donald A. Norman
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Only the most sophisticated of beings can lie and cheat, and get away with it.
Donald A. Norman
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AS for all those mistakes I make - they are on purpose - to teach you how to deal with them
Donald A. Norman
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If you're more susceptible to interruption, you do more out of the box thinking.
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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Complexity is acceptable as long as it is intelligible and necessary. We want to avoid needless complications.
Donald A. Norman
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To me, error analysis is the sweet spot for improvement.
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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If you think the products don't match what you want from a product, don't buy it.
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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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