Jef Raskin Quotes

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.

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

This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it.

In many cases, the user interface to a program is the most important part for a commercial company: whether the programs works correctly or not seems to be secondary.

We obviously try to be in tune with what our users want.

It doesn't matter how good your product solution is if users don't enjoy or understand how to use it.

My mantra is: 'Good design accelerates the adoption of new ideas.'

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.

The average user doesn't give a damn what happens, as long as (1) it works and (2) it's fast.

If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likeable person.

The payoff of a customer-centric approach to software and digital product design is substantial and long-lasting for both companies and their customers.

Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works.

I did an early version of my site where it was virtually impossible to get through it, just as a statement about the web. But after a few laughs and some angry e-mails, I realized it wasn't doing me much good. I think the web has become more about the final product, not what it takes to get to it.

I think if the average person that uses AOL can't physically see the changes in the company, we've failed.

Great design... you won't have a business today without great design.

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.

Ultimately, we're making and selling a consumer good that needs to work and that needs to make customers happy.

One of the things that... I've seen Nintendo do so well is provide a user interface that is intuitive, easy to navigate, easy to execute against - and in our view, that's exactly what we've done on DSi.

One of the things I've been working on for the past few months is a radical simplification of the interface.

I've spent my whole life worrying about the human-computer interface, so I don't want to suggest that what we have today is even close to acceptable.

A well-designed and humane interface does not have to be split into beginner and expert subsystems.

I have my team focused on the front end, working on the user experience, and making sure we have all the wiki-like tools people need to work on the site. We're just cranking away.

Good design makes a product understandable.

Don't lose sight of user delight.