“Think of design as an activity that anyone in the organization can engage with… design is not the purview of some special elite group. Design needs to be embedded as a competency within an organization – something that everybody can get involved with.” - Peter Merholz

Listen to the BusinessWeek podcast “It’s the Experience That Counts” for a discussion of how focusing on consumers’ experience of new products and services can inform and shape design.

“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit; it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse.” - Paul Rand

Read Joshua Porter’s thoughts on this quote on his blog here.

“Each moment has the potential to increase a user’s confidence or destroy his trust in a product or a company, and each one is an important piece of the whole experience. Why? Because the task a person is attempting to complete at any given moment is the most important task to that person, at that moment. It is our job to make sure nothing goes wrong.  To make sure that moment is enjoyable and productive, and helps our user feel smart.” - Designing the Moment by Robert Hoekman Jr.

Purchase Designing the Moment here or check out a sample chapter of the book on Robert Hoekman Jr.’s site.

Read David Fiorito’s thoughts on Designing the Moment here.

Edit: As noted in the comments, the originally submitted quote was slightly inaccurate, but added the focus on designers.  I’ll keep that version available, but please note that the quote above is more accurate.

“Perfection is achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Quote submitted by Geoff Alday. Geoff found the quote in this presentation by Will Tschumy from Microsoft (Slide 105).  Check out Geoff’s thoughts on the presentation here.

Robyn had also submitted this quote via a comment on the inspireUX post “The life of a designer is a life of fight against the ugliness.”

Do you have a quote you want to see on inspireUX?  Submit it and it may be posted!

“To achieve originality we need to abandon the comforts of habit, reason, and the approval of our peers, and strike out in new directions.” - The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

Purchase The Brand Gap here.

“Your site can do much more than mimic your identity. It can encapsulate the brand personality, whether that is inspirational, trustworthy, or authoritative. These traits were part of the reason why they chose your brand in the first place.” - Sharon Lee

Read Sharon’s article “Human-to-Human Design” here.

“On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website’s information is hard to read or doesn’t answer users’ key questions, they leave. Note a pattern here?” - Jakob Nielsen

Read Jakob’s take on why usability is important in his article “Usability 101: Definition and Fundamentals - What, Why, How” here.

“Usability is like love. You have to care, you have to listen, and you have to be willing to change. You’ll make mistakes along the way, but that’s where growth and forgiveness come in.” - Jeffrey Zeldman

Read Jeffrey’s article “Tackling Usability Gotchas in Large-scale Site Redesigns” here.

“Information architecture helps make sure that business needs and user needs are met, leaving everyone happy, and isn’t that really what it’s all about?” - Jeff Lash

Read Jeff’s article “The Age of Information Architecture” here.

“Good design must necessarily, in my opinion, have an impact on people’s lives, no matter how seemingly small. Good design changes things.” - Garr Reynolds

Check out Garr’s article “Why Design Matters” here.