The Design Of Everyday Things

If the system lets you make the error, it is badly designed.

Don't criticize unless you can do better. Try to understand how the faulty design might have occurred: try to determine how it could have been done otherwise.

One way of overcoming the fear of the new is to make it look like the old.

Two of the most important characteristics of good design are discoverability and understanding.

The problem with the designs of most engineers is that they are too logical. We have to accept human behavior the way it is, not the way we would wish it to be.

But in my experience, human error usually is a result of poor design: it should be called system error. Humans err continually; it is an intrinsic part of our nature. System design should take this into account. Pinning the blame on the person may be a comfortable way to proceed, but why was the system ever designed so that a single act by a single... See more

A brilliant solution to the wrong problem can be worse than no solution at all: solve the correct problem

Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible