Martin Cooper Quotes

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

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.

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.

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

My goal is to simplify complexity. I just want to build stuff that really simplifies our base human interaction.

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.

The wonderful thing about Apple technology is just how intuitive it is.

An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties.

I feel that it's lovely when, as a user, you're not aware of the complexity.

Technology has to be invisible. Transparent. Just simple.

When a device as simple as a door has to come with an instruction manual—even a one-word manual—then it is a failure, poorly designed.

The tool user, provided the tool is made well, need not, and indeed should not, know anything about the tool.

Easy things should be easy, and hard things should be possible.

Ironically, the thing that will likely make the least improvement in the ease of use of software-based products is new technology. There is little difference technically between a complicated, confusing program and a simple, fun, and powerful product.

Macs are not intuitive. It's intuitive to the person who created it. It's not intuitive to me.

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

Apple products aren't simple technologies by any stretch, but there is a beautiful simplicity to them.

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.

People don't want lots and lots of single purpose devices. They do not want to have to learn how to set up something for photos, another thing for music, another thing for video.

The less concerned with aesthetics and usability these friends and family members are, the more easily they navigate sites and applications I can't make head nor hair of. Like the ex-girlfriend who mastered Ebay.

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

The best version of Foursquare is the one you don't think about using.

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