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Top 30 Alan Cooper Quotes (2024 Update)

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

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

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Define what the product will do before you design how the product will do it.”

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

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Homo logicus are driven by an irresistible desire to understand how things work. By contrast, Homo sapiens have a strong desire for success. Programmers also want to succeed, but they will frequently accept failure as the price to pay for understanding.”

3. “Homo logicus are driven by an irresistible desire to understand how things work. By contrast, Homo sapiens have a strong desire for success. Programmers also want to succeed, but they will frequently accept failure as the price to pay for understanding.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Form follows function straight to hell.”

4. “Form follows function straight to hell.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “The Only Thing More Expensive Than Writing Software Is Writing Bad Software.”

5. “The Only Thing More Expensive Than Writing Software Is Writing Bad Software.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Interaction design isn’t merely a matter of aesthetic choice; rather, it is based on an understanding of users and cognitive principles.”

6. “Interaction design isn’t merely a matter of aesthetic choice; rather, it is based on an understanding of users and cognitive principles.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Just how do I design if not with prototyping? An excellent question. The short answer is ‘on paper.’”

7. “Just how do I design if not with prototyping? An excellent question. The short answer is ‘on paper.’”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “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.”

8. “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

Alan Cooper Quote: “Product successes and failures have shown repeatedly that users don’t care that much about features. Users only care about achieving their goals.”

9. “Product successes and failures have shown repeatedly that users don’t care that much about features. Users only care about achieving their goals.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it.”

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

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “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.”

11. “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

Alan Cooper Quote: “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.”

12. “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

Alan Cooper Quote: “Design principle: Take things away until the design breaks, then put that last thing back in.”

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

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “You can blame the “stupid user” all you want, but you still have to staff those phones with expensive tech-support people if you want to sell or distribute within your company software that hasn’t been designed.”

14. “You can blame the “stupid user” all you want, but you still have to staff those phones with expensive tech-support people if you want to sell or distribute within your company software that hasn’t been designed.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Eric Raymond says, “Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to reuse.”

15. “Eric Raymond says, “Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to reuse.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Usability’s strength is in identifying problems, while design’s strength is in identifying solutions.”

16. “Usability’s strength is in identifying problems, while design’s strength is in identifying solutions.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “High cognitive friction polarizes people into two groups. It either makes them feel frustrated and stupid for failing, or giddy with power at overcoming the extreme difficulty. These powerful emotions force people into being either an “apologist” or a “survivor.” They either adopt cognitive friction as a lifestyle, or they go underground and accept it as a necessary evil. The polarization is growing acute.”

17. “High cognitive friction polarizes people into two groups. It either makes them feel frustrated and stupid for failing, or giddy with power at overcoming the extreme difficulty. These powerful emotions force people into being either an “apologist” or a “survivor.” They either adopt cognitive friction as a lifestyle, or they go underground and accept it as a necessary evil. The polarization is growing acute.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “You Don’t Have to Go Home from Work Exhausted!”

18. “You Don’t Have to Go Home from Work Exhausted!”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “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.”

19. “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

Alan Cooper Quote: “Well madam, have you looked in the mirror and seen the state of your nose? Boxing is my excuse. What’s yours?”

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

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “There’s only one thing you can use against pure logic, and that’s common sense.”

21. “There’s only one thing you can use against pure logic, and that’s common sense.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “To deliver both power and pleasure to users, interaction designers think first conceptually, then in terms of behavior, and last in terms of interface.”

22. “To deliver both power and pleasure to users, interaction designers think first conceptually, then in terms of behavior, and last in terms of interface.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Most software is used in a business context, so most victims of bad interaction are paid for their suffering. Their job forces them to use software, so they cannot choose not to use it – they can only tolerate it as well as they can. They are forced to submerge their frustration and to ignore the embarrassment they feel when the software makes them feel stupid.”

23. “Most software is used in a business context, so most victims of bad interaction are paid for their suffering. Their job forces them to use software, so they cannot choose not to use it – they can only tolerate it as well as they can. They are forced to submerge their frustration and to ignore the embarrassment they feel when the software makes them feel stupid.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “You can predict which features in any new technology will be used and which won’t. The use of a feature is inversely proportional to the amount of interaction needed to control.”

24. “You can predict which features in any new technology will be used and which won’t. The use of a feature is inversely proportional to the amount of interaction needed to control.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Computer literacy, however, is really a euphemism for forcing human beings to stretch their thinking to understand the inner workings of application logic, rather than having software-enabled products stretch to meet people’s usual ways of thinking.”

25. “Computer literacy, however, is really a euphemism for forcing human beings to stretch their thinking to understand the inner workings of application logic, rather than having software-enabled products stretch to meet people’s usual ways of thinking.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “Like putting an Armani suit on Attila the Hun, interface design only tells how to dress up an existing behavior.”

26. “Like putting an Armani suit on Attila the Hun, interface design only tells how to dress up an existing behavior.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “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.”

27. “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

Alan Cooper Quote: “Writing software is not a variable cost, but it’s not really a fixed cost either. Writing software is an ongoing, revenue-generating operation of the company, and it is not the same as constructing a factory. The expensive craftsmen who build the factory leave and go to work on some other job after the building is erected.”

28. “Writing software is not a variable cost, but it’s not really a fixed cost either. Writing software is an ongoing, revenue-generating operation of the company, and it is not the same as constructing a factory. The expensive craftsmen who build the factory leave and go to work on some other job after the building is erected.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “The real interaction designer’s decisions are based on what the user is trying to achieve.”

29. “The real interaction designer’s decisions are based on what the user is trying to achieve.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “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.”

30. “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

Alan Cooper Quote: “Sort of like the pilot saying, “We’re gonna make Chicago on time, but only if we jettison all our baggage!” I’ve seen product managers sacrifice not only design, but testing, function, features, integration, documentation, and reality. Most product managers that I have worked with would rather ship a failure on time than risk going late.”

31. “Sort of like the pilot saying, “We’re gonna make Chicago on time, but only if we jettison all our baggage!” I’ve seen product managers sacrifice not only design, but testing, function, features, integration, documentation, and reality. Most product managers that I have worked with would rather ship a failure on time than risk going late.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “When programmers speak of “computer literacy,” they are drawing red lines around ethnic groups, too, yet few have pointed this out.”

32. “When programmers speak of “computer literacy,” they are drawing red lines around ethnic groups, too, yet few have pointed this out.”

— Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper Quote: “When your number one job is serving the needs of users, and some external force tries to divert your efforts to some other goal, your number one job now changes to removing that external force. It doesn’t matter if that external force has more economic or political power than you do. Your job is clear.”

33. “When your number one job is serving the needs of users, and some external force tries to divert your efforts to some other goal, your number one job now changes to removing that external force. It doesn’t matter if that external force has more economic or political power than you do. Your job is clear.”

— Alan Cooper

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LIFE SPIRITUALITY

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