“People’s behavior makes sense if you think about it in terms of their goals, needs, and motives.” – Thomas Mann
Read more about Thomas Mann (1875 – 1955), a German novelist whose work is noted for its insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual, on this Wikipedia page.
“Users don’t care about convention and heuristics and all of that. Users just want to have a good experience achieving the outcomes they set out to achieve in your site/system/product. Surely we, as experience designers, can not only design a non-problematic experience. Surely we can actually create a pleasurable experience through the way that people interact with our content or functionality.” – Leisa Reichelt
Read Leisa’s article “User Experience & Cognitive Pleasures” here.
“Saying that people are the focus of user experience is stating the obvious, but when we are deeply engaged in our own work as user experience designers, it can be difficult to constantly remember to keep people at the center of design. For most of us, it’s hard not to get caught up in the skills and techniques that the technologies we work with require and even harder not to want to use technology to solve problems. But as user experience designers, we need to keep our eye on people.” – Whitney Quesenbery
Read Whitney’s article “Why People Matter” for her thoughts on putting people at the center of design.
“Our DNA is as a consumer company – for that individual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.” – Steve Jobs
Read more from Steve Jobs in Fortune’s article on the Most Admired Companies of 2008.
“Observe how your users approach information, consider what it means, and design to allow them to achieve what they need.” – Donna Spencer
Read Donna’s article “Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them” here.
“The principles of good human-to-computer interface design are simplicity, support, clarity, encouragement, satisfaction, accessibility, versatility, and personalization. While it’s essential to heed these, it’s also important to empathize with and inspire your audience so they feel you’re treating them less like a faceless user and more like a human being.” – Sharon Lee
Read Sharon’s article “Human-to-Human Design” or check out two other quotes from this article: “Your site can encapsulate your brand personality” and “Rich, sensory experiences immerse users and lead to joy and satisfaction.”