It’s not good enough to just be usable. Design has to fit into peoples’ lives.

“Design is less and less about solving problems, testing less and less about eliminating frustration. It’s all becoming more and more about making a good experience for users… Now it’s not good enough to just be usable. The design has to fit into peoples’ lives. It actually has to make people happy, and anticipate their needs.” – Dana Chisnell

Read more in Dana’s UX Magazine article “Beyond Frustration: Three levels of happy design.”

1. Focus on understanding the behavior and performance of people using a design
2. Usability testing is a means of understanding the goodness of a design’s fit to the intended users’ problems
3. Design’s true purpose is to improve people’s lives
4. Good design must have an impact on people’s lives
5. Design helps or improves the lives of other humans