Quotes on User Experience Design from Usability Gurus

Today we share with you the set of design quotes and user experience ideas from recognized experts in the sphere of design who know everything about creating usability, utility, and desirability. Their books got around the world and took a big part in the issues of creating user-friendly products. So, get inspired with us via wise professional tips from Steve Krug and Donald Norman.

Ten wise tips by Steve Krug

If you want a great site, you’ve got to test. After you’ve worked on a site for even a few weeks, you can’t see it freshly anymore. You know too much. The only way to find out if it really works is to test it. (Steve Krug)

Designers love subtle cues, because subtlety is one of the traits of sophisticated design. But Web users are generally in such a hurry that they routinely miss subtle cues. (Steve Krug)

The problem is there are no simple “right” answers for most Web design questions (at least not for the important ones). What works is good, integrated design that fills a need—carefully thought out, well executed, and tested. (Steve Krug)

Experts are rarely insulted by something that is clear enough for beginners. Everybody appreciates clarity. (Steve Krug)

If something requires a large investment of time—or looks like it will—it’s less likely to be used. (Steve Krug)

Your primary role should be to share what you know, not to tell people how things should be done. (Steve Krug)

Another needless source of question marks over people’s heads is links and buttons that aren’t obviously clickable. As a user, I should never have to devote a millisecond of thought to whether things are clickable—or not. (Steve Krug)

Making every page or screen self-evident is like having good lighting in a store: it just makes everything seem better. (Steve Krug)

Nothing important should ever be more than two clicks away. (Steve Krug)

…usability is about people and how they understand and use things, not about technology. (Steve Krug)

Ten wise tips by Donald Norman

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 Norman)

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 Norman)

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 Norman)

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 Norman)

Any time you see signs or labels added to a device, it is an indication of bad design: a simple lock should not require instructions. (Donald Norman)

Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating. (Donald Norman)

Everything has a personality: everything sends an emotional signal. Even where this was not the intention of the designer, the people who view the website infer personalities and experience emotions. (Donald Norman)

Designers know too much about their product to be objective judges: the features they have come to love and prefer may not be understood or preferred by the future customers. (Donald Norman)

Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible. (Donald Norman)

Engineers and designers simultaneously know too much and too little. They know too much about the technology and too little about how other people live their lives and do their activities. (Donald Norman)

Originally collected for Tubik Blog

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