“Products were once designed for the functions they performed. But when all companies can make products that perform their functions equally well, the distinctive advantage goes to those who provide pleasure and enjoyment while maintaining the power. If functions are equated with cognition, pleasure is equated with emotion; today we want products that appeal to both cognition and emotion.” – Don Norman
Read more in Don’s Interactions Magazine article “The Transmedia Design Challenge Technology that is Pleasurable and Satisfying.”
“Products were once designed for the functions they performed. But when all companies can make products that perform their functions equally well, the distinctive advantage goes to those who provide pleasure and enjoyment while maintaining the power. If functions are equated with cognition, pleasure is equated with emotion; today we want products that appeal to both cognition and emotion.” – Don Norman
This quote is from Don’s article “The Transmedia Design Challenge: Technology that is Pleasurable and Satisfying”
“If you think of the product as a service, then the separate parts make no sense – the point of a product is to offer great experiences to its owner, which means that it offers a service. And that experience, that service, comprises the totality of its parts: The whole is indeed made up of all of the parts. The real value of a product consists of far more than the product’s components.” – Don Norman
Read more in Don’s article “Systems Thinking: A Product Is More Than the Product.”
“No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service – from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly. That’s systems thinking.” – Don Norman
Read more from Don in his article “Systems Thinking: A Product Is More Than the Product”.
“Attractive things work better… When you wash and wax a car, it drives better, doesn’t it? Or at least feels like it does.” – Don Norman
This quote is from the article “The Secret of Apple Design” by Technology Review. This site requires a login to read the full article. Read more from Don on this subject in his paper “Attractive Things Work Better.” (PDF)
Thanks to Robert Shedd for submitting this quote! 
“It’s the total experience that matters. And that starts from when you first hear about a product… experience is more based upon memory than reality. If your memory of the product is wonderful, you will excuse all sorts of incidental things.” – Don Norman
Don’s quote is from an interview conducted at UX Week 2008. Read some other choice quotes from this interview here. This quote was submitted by Michael Cummings.
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Catriona Cornett
