Alan Cooper Design Quotations

Design is not so much a design issue as a power struggle.

If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likeable person.

The payoff of a customer-centric approach to software and digital product design is substantial and long-lasting for both companies and their customers.

There's a fundamental problem with how the software business does things. We're asking people who are masters of hard-edged technology to design the soft, human side of software as well. As a result, they make products that are really cool - if you happen to be a software engineer.

No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it.

If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.

Design principle: Take things away until the design breaks, then put that last thing back in.

Define what the product will do before you design how the product will do it.

Just how do I design if not with prototyping? An excellent question. The short answer is 'on paper.'