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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
Machines
Design
Duty
Understand
People
Dictates
Arbitrary
Meaningless

More quotes by 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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Readers always seem to think that the author has some control over the design of their books.
Donald A. Norman
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Technology may change rapidly, but people change slowly. The principals [of design] come from understanding of people. They remain true forever.
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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I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them
Donald A. Norman
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Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right.
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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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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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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In my opinion, no single design is apt to be optimal for everyone.
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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In design it is important to shoe the effect of an action. ... Feedback is critical.
Donald A. Norman
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It was always amusing to be inside Apple and read what journalists said we were doing
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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The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.
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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Forget the complaints against complexity instead, complain about confusion.
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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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
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I prefer design by experts - by people who know what they are doing
Donald A. Norman