“Designing a website can be a bit like being a kid and inheriting a sweetshop. It’s easy to get carried away. There are so many choices. A website can be like an attic that never fills up. Space is not the problem. Attention is.” - Gerry McGovern

This quote is from Gerry’s article “Web navigation is about moving forward”.

“In the absence of detailed information, we all work from assumptions about who the user is, what he or she does, and what type of system would meet his or her needs. Following these assumptions, we tend to design for ourselves, not for other people.” - Human Factor: Designing Computer Systems for People by Richard Rubinstein and Harry Hersh

Quote submitted by Kel Smith.  Do you have a quote you want to see on inspireUX? Submit it, and it may be chosen!

Purchase Human Factor: Designing Computer Systems for People here.

“I view a user experience as a conversation between people separated over the distance of time. At one end of that conversation are those who create the product; at the other, the people who use it. In between is the product itself—with a design that either helps or hinders; creates a barrier-free interaction or shouts in an unfamiliar language. Because this conversation does not happen in real time, we are not there to smooth over the rough spots and make sure that we have spoken clearly. Instead, we have to build our understanding of those users into every aspect of the design, by putting people—users—at the center of the design process.” - Whitney Quesenbery

This quote is from Whitney’s great article “Why People Matter” from UX Matters.

Tip: Remember, you can always click on the thumbnail image of the quote card to get a full-sized image that can be used for saving or printing.

“Organizations need to take design thinking seriously. We need to spend more time making people conscious of design thinking — not because design is wondrous or magical, but simply because by focusing on it, we’ll make it better. And that’s an imperative for any business, because design thinking is indisputably a catalyst for innovation productivity.” - Tim Brown

Read Tim’s article “Strategy by Design” from Fast Company.

Happy holidays to all inspireUX readers!

“The worst misstep one can make in design is to solve the wrong problem.” - John Carroll

This quote was cited in Malcolm MCullough’s book “Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental Knowing.” Read an excerpt from this book that includes John Carroll’s quote.

Also, you can read more about John Carroll (who, I might add, is a professor at my Alma Mater, Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology) in this interview from UX Pioneers.

“The measure of quality in web design should not be good looks, but graceful transformation: pages that can be accessed under different conditions and keep their integrity… A real web designer embraces the medium and designs for maximum inclusivity.” - Sarah Horton

Read Sarah’s article “Beauty is Only Screen Deep” for her thoughts on why design should be about more than just good looks.

“It’s standard practice to design with our user’s goals in mind. Too often, though, we tend to focus only on the immediate goals… Although we may produce usable and successful designs, we have ignored the user’s larger context. They may be bored, tired, at work, grinding away at a long term deliverable. They may be entering countless rows of data into a spreadsheet.  People love to have fun. Without sacrificing usability, let’s bring a little fun into our designs.” - Loren Baxter

Read Loren’s article “Fun in Interaction Design” here.

“Effective information architects make the complex clear; they make the information understandable to other human beings. If they succeed in doing that, they’re good information architects. If they fail, they’re not.” - Information Anxiety 2 by Richard Wurman

Purchase Richard’s book Information Anxiety 2 or read a select chapter from the book for his thoughts on how information architects can open themselves to being able to explain information to others.

“Good writing for the web is about creating communications in which people can find what they need, understand what they find, and act appropriately on that understanding in the time and effort that they think it is worth.  Plain language is part of user-centered design.” - Ginny Redish

Read more about Ginny and the importance of plain language on the web in Whitney Quesenbery’s article “Usability doesn’t stop when you write the content.”

“The ultimate aim of all creative activity is to bring happiness to people’s lives… The success of an experience is measured by the amount of happiness it brings to life and the amount of people willing to live the experience, not by its individual qualities.” - Andrë Braz

Read Andrë’s “Experience Design Manifesto” here.