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.

Alan Cooper

Categorized in : Fun Powerful Technology

No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it.

Alan Cooper

design would-be beautiful

If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.

Alan Cooper

helpful design want

A powerful tool in the early stages of developing scenarios is to pretend the interface is magic. If your persona has goals and the product has magical powers to meet them, how simple could the interaction be? This kind of thinking is useful to help designers look outside the box.

Alan Cooper

powerful simple thinking

Form follows function straight to hell.

Alan Cooper

function hell form

Design principle: Take things away until the design breaks, then put that last thing back in.

Alan Cooper

simplicity design principles

Define what the product will do before you design how the product will do it.

Alan Cooper

design products

There's only one thing you can use against pure logic, and that's common sense.

Alan Cooper

common-sense logic use

Run for your lives-the computers are invading. Awesomely powerful computers tackling ever more important tasks with awkward, old-fashioned interfaces. As these machines leak into every corner of our lives, they will annoy us, infuriate us, and even kill a few of us. In turn, we will be tempted to kill our computers, but we won't dare because we are already utterly, irreversibly dependent on these hopeful monsters that make modern life possible.

Alan Cooper

hopeful powerful running

Usability methods are like sandpapering a chair. If you are making a chair, the sandpaper can make it smoother. But no amount of sandpaper will turn a chair into a table.

Alan Cooper

sandpaper chairs tables

Keep it simple: In general, interfaces should use simple geometric forms, minimal contours, and a restricted color palette comprised primarily of less-saturated or neutral colors balanced with a few high contrast accent colors that emphasize important information. Typography should not vary widely in an interface.

Alan Cooper

simplicity color simple

To our human minds, computers behave less like rocks and trees than they do like humans, so we unconsciously treat them like people.... In other words, humans have special instincts that tell them how to behave around other sentient beings, and as soon as any object exhibits sufficient cognitive function, those instincts kick in and we react as though we were interacting with another sentient human being.

Alan Cooper

rocks tree people

It's harder than you might think to squander millions of dollars, but a flawed software development process is a tool well suited to the job.

Alan Cooper

might jobs thinking

Just how do I design if not with prototyping? An excellent question. The short answer is 'on paper.'

Alan Cooper

design paper answers

You can get spiritual things out of books and stories and they have nothing to do with religion.

Alan Cooper

spiritual book

I just try and learn to be a good husband and be a good father before I am a good rock star. That means saying no to certain things that go with the business.

Alan Cooper

husband mean father

You Don't Have to Go Home from Work Exhausted!

Alan Cooper

exhausted home

Men do not greet one another like this ... except perhaps at rugby club dinners.

Alan Cooper

rugby-league clubs men

Computers no longer interface with humans--they interact, and the interaction will become steadily deeper, more subtle, and more crucial to our collective sanity and ultimate survival.

Alan Cooper

sanity computer survival

Well madam, have you looked in the mirror and seen the state of your nose? Boxing is my excuse. What's yours?

Alan Cooper

boxing mirrors noses

It has been said that the great scientific disciplines are examples of giants standing on the shoulders of other giants. It has also been said that the software industry is an example of midgets standing on the toes of other midgets.

Alan Cooper

discipline technology example