20 Quotes About Design from Gurus of Usability

The summer is passing, and here in Tubik Studio, our designers are keen to get a new dose of inspiration from bright autumn days appearing on the scene. We have decided to save the energy of summer and warm up before the autumn with new perspectives and challenges with a set of inspirational quotes. Today we share with you our favorite quotes from recognized experts in the sphere of design who know everything about creating usability, utility, and desirability. So, get inspired with us by Steve Krug and Donald Norman in the first set of the Tubik Studio Quotes Collection.

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)

“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)

“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)

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)

“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)

“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)

“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)