Design principle: Take things away until the design breaks, then put that last thing back in.
ALAN COOPERTo scenes by memory’s silver chain Close-linked, and ever yet apart, That like the vine, whose tendrils young Around some fostering branch have clung, Grown with its growth, as tho’ it sprung From one united heart.
More Alan Cooper Quotes
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To our human minds, computers behave less like rocks and trees than they do like humans, so we unconsciously treat them like people.
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In other words, humans have special instincts that tell them how to behave around other sentient beings.
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There is little difference technically between a complicated, confusing program and a simple, fun, and powerful product.
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I just like so many different kinds of music that I like experimenting. I don’t want to keep making the same record over and over and over.
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If you are making a chair, the sandpaper can make it smoother. But no amount of sandpaper will turn a chair into a table.
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Well madam, have you looked in the mirror and seen the state of your nose? Boxing is my excuse. What’s yours?
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Just how do I design if not with prototyping? An excellent question. The short answer is ‘on paper.’
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Computers no longer interface with humans–they interact, and the interaction will become steadily deeper, more subtle, and more crucial to our collective sanity and ultimate survival.
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The things like that we could fight about, we really don’t. We are pretty lucky for that.
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Past dreams of bliss our lives contain, And slight the chords that still retain A heart estranged to joys again,
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Computer memories work in a manner alien to human memories. My memory lets me recognize the faces of my friends, whereas my own computer never even recognizes me.
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Ironically, the thing that will likely make the least improvement in the ease of use of software-based products is new technology.
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You can get spiritual things out of books and stories and they have nothing to do with religion.
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It has been said that the great scientific disciplines are examples of giants standing on the shoulders of other giants.
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And as soon as any object exhibits sufficient cognitive function, those instincts kick in and we react as though we were interacting with another sentient human being.
ALAN COOPER






