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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

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Donald A. Norman
Duty
Understand
People
Dictates
Arbitrary
Meaningless
Machines
Design

More quotes by Donald A. Norman

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I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them
Donald A. Norman
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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.
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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It is not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and, yes, beauty to people's lives.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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To me, error analysis is the sweet spot for improvement.
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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Complexity is acceptable as long as it is intelligible and necessary. We want to avoid needless complications.
Donald A. Norman
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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
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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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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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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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