Donald A. Norman
Donald Arthur Norman is a professor emeritus of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego and a Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University, where he also co-directs the dual degree MBA + Engineering degree program between the Kellogg school and Northwestern Engineering. Norman is on numerous company advisory boards, including the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica. He currently splits his time between consulting, teaching, and writing. He co-founded the Nielsen Norman Group, a consulting group on matters of usability, which also includes Jakob Nielsen and Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini.
Many of Norman's books deal mostly with usability or with cognitive psychology. He loves products which are enjoyable to use, a feature which he attributes to putting together emotion and design, or heart and mind.
“Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.”
“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.”
“Simplification is as much in the mind as it is in the device.”
“Forget the complaints against complexity; instead, complain about confusion.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Could we ever switch to this or any of the many other rational systems? Unlikely: tradition is difficult to overcome.”
“adults forget how difficult that task was.”
“Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.”
“Principles of design:1. Use both knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head.2. Simplify the structure of tasks.3. Make things visible: bridge gulfs between Execution and Evaluation.4. Get the mappings right.5. Exploit the power of constraints.6. Design for error.7. When all else fails, standardize.”
“Will robot teachers replace human teachers? No, but they can complement them. Moreover, the could be sufficient in situations where there is no alternative––to enable learning while traveling, or while in remote locations, or when one wishes to study a topic for which there is not easy access to teachers. Robot teachers will help make lifelong learning a practicality. They can make it possible to learn no matter where one is in the world, no matter the time of day. Learning should take place when it is needed, when the learner is interested, not according to some arbitrary, fixed schedule”
“Learning should take place when it is needed, when the learner is interested, not according to some arbitrary, fixed schedule”