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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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Donald A. Norman
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So what does a good teacher do? Create tension - but just the right amount.
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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.
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Simplification is as much in the mind as it is in the device.
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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?
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Only the most sophisticated of beings can lie and cheat, and get away with it.
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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.
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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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I think there is a tendency in science to measure what is measurable and to decide that what you cannot measure must be uninteresting.
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It is relatively easy to design for the perfect cases, when everything goes right, or when all the information required is available in proper format
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The current paradigm is so thoroughly established that the only way to change is to start over again.
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The design of everyday things is in great danger of becoming the design of superfluous, overloaded, unnecessary things.
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I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them
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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.
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AS for all those mistakes I make - they are on purpose - to teach you how to deal with them
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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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Behavioral design is all about feeling in control. Includes: usability, understanding, but also the feel.
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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.
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Complexity is acceptable as long as it is intelligible and necessary. We want to avoid needless complications.
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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.
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The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.
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