Jef Raskin Quotes

There's a fundamental problem with how the software business does things. We're asking people who are masters of hard-edged technology to design the soft, human side of software as well. As a result, they make products that are really cool - if you happen to be a software engineer.

User-centered design means understanding what your users need, how they think, and how they behave - and incorporating that understanding into every aspect of your process.

Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.

Good design to me is both appearance and functionality together. It's the experience that makes it good design.

Reducing a product's definition to a list of features and functions ignores the real opportunity - orchestrating technological capability to serve human needs and goals.

For much of its existence, design was all about convenience. We wanted to hide technology so that users are not distracted into thinking about the tools they use.

We want the average person to use it and think that it makes the experience of using Pinterest better.

Keeping it simple for the consumer is incredibly dire.

We've tried to simplify the site because some people found it too difficult to use and were intimidated by it.

Consumers have zero time for products that are not simple, intuitive, and attractive to use. This is especially true with Internet products, where clean and useful design is a prerequisite to keeping anyone on your site for more than 30 seconds.

The Internet is full of choices, and nobody is going to make the choice to use a product that is hard to use or unattractive.

Good technology is intuitive - the cellphone forces you to become an engineer.

Taken as a whole, consumer technologies have made startling advances, but they still are not as easy to use as they should be.

Products have to be designed in a way that they are comprehensible.

I have discovered that there are two types of command interfaces in the world of computing: good interfaces and user interfaces.

One of the problems with computers, particularly for the older people, is they were befuddled by them, and the computers have gotten better. They have gotten easier to use. They have gotten less expensive. The software interfaces have made things a lot more accessible.

Design must be functional, and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained.

Design should be easy in the sense that every step should be obviously and clearly identifiable. Simplify elements to make change simple so you can manage the technical risk.

Things that are ultimately complex must have a simple end user experience if they are to be successful.

Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.

I'm not a tech guy. I'm looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people's eyes.

The utmost thing is the user experience, to have the most useful experience.

The only important thing about design is how it relates to people.

Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people.

We want to build technology that everybody loves using, and that affects everyone. We want to create beautiful, intuitive services and technologies that are so incredibly useful that people use them twice a day. Like they use a toothbrush. There aren't that many things people use twice a day.