Alan Cooper Quotes

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

  Alan Cooper

  Design, Want, Helpful

  37 Copy quote

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

  Alan Cooper

  Beautiful, Design, Would Be

  55 Copy quote

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

  Alan Cooper

  Design, Products

  Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, Christopher Noessel (2014). “About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design”, p.107, John Wiley & Sons

  17 Copy quote

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

  Alan Cooper

  Simplicity, Design, Principles

  20 Copy quote

• Ironically, the thing that will likely make the least improvement in the ease of use of software-based products is new technology. There is little difference technically between a complicated, confusing program and a simple, fun, and powerful product.

  Alan Cooper

  Fun, Powerful, Technology

  Alan Cooper (1999). “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”, Sams Publishing

  35 Copy quote

• Form follows function straight to hell.

  Alan Cooper

  Hell, Form, Function

  15 Copy quote

• A powerful tool in the early stages of developing scenarios is to pretend the interface is magic. If your persona has goals and the product has magical powers to meet them, how simple could the interaction be? This kind of thinking is useful to help designers look outside the box.

  Alan Cooper

  Powerful, Simple, Thinking

  Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin (2012). “About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design”, p.121, John Wiley & Sons

  23 Copy quote

• There's only one thing you can use against pure logic, and that's common sense.

  Alan Cooper

  Common Sense, Use, Logic

  15 Copy quote

• Usability methods are like sandpapering a chair. If you are making a chair, the sandpaper can make it smoother. But no amount of sandpaper will turn a chair into a table.

  Alan Cooper

  Tables, Chairs, Sandpaper

  13 Copy quote

• 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.

  Alan Cooper

  Survival, Computer, Sanity

  9 Copy quote

• It's harder than you might think to squander millions of dollars, but a flawed software development process is a tool well suited to the job.

  Alan Cooper

  Jobs, Thinking, Might

  Alan Cooper (1999). “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”, Sams Publishing

  10 Copy quote

• Run for your lives-the computers are invading. Awesomely powerful computers tackling ever more important tasks with awkward, old-fashioned interfaces. As these machines leak into every corner of our lives, they will annoy us, infuriate us, and even kill a few of us. In turn, we will be tempted to kill our computers, but we won't dare because we are already utterly, irreversibly dependent on these hopeful monsters that make modern life possible.

  Alan Cooper

  Running, Powerful, Hopeful

  Alan Cooper (1999). “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”, Sams Publishing

  15 Copy quote

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

  Alan Cooper

  Design, Answers, Paper

  9 Copy quote

• Keep it simple: In general, interfaces should use simple geometric forms, minimal contours, and a restricted color palette comprised primarily of less-saturated or neutral colors balanced with a few high contrast accent colors that emphasize important information. Typography should not vary widely in an interface.

  Alan Cooper

  Simple, Color, Simplicity

  Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin (2012). “About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design”, p.308, John Wiley & Sons

  13 Copy quote

• While making art you should just do what is in your heart.

  Alan Cooper

  Art, Heart

  Source: puregrainaudio.com

  5 Copy quote

• Well madam, have you looked in the mirror and seen the state of your nose? Boxing is my excuse. What's yours?

  Alan Cooper

  Mirrors, Boxing, Noses

  10 Copy quote

• You Don't Have to Go Home from Work Exhausted!

  Alan Cooper

  Home, Exhausted

  7 Copy quote

• One of the most heinous, insidious lies is the notion that you have to be an asshole to be a successful business person.

  Alan Cooper

  Lying, Successful, Entrepreneur

  7 Copy quote

• To our human minds, computers behave less like rocks and trees than they do like humans, so we unconsciously treat them like people.... In other words, humans have special instincts that tell them how to behave around other sentient beings, 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

  Rocks, People, Tree

  11 Copy quote

• If you are not going to produce albums then you are not going to produce new fans. It's impossible. I'm a huge believer in putting music out as quickly as early as possible, touring hard and then working on putting the next one out. I don't need to break. I just need to put a record out.

  Alan Cooper

  Impossible, Break, Believer

  Source: puregrainaudio.com

  4 Copy quote

• I just try and learn to be a good husband and be a good father before I am a good rock star. That means saying no to certain things that go with the business.

  Alan Cooper

  Husband, Father, Mean

  Source: puregrainaudio.com

  6 Copy quote

• It has been said that the great scientific disciplines are examples of giants standing on the shoulders of other giants. It has also been said that the software industry is an example of midgets standing on the toes of other midgets.

  Alan Cooper

  Technology, Discipline, Example

  7 Copy quote

• Men do not greet one another like this ... except perhaps at rugby club dinners.

  Alan Cooper

  Men, Rugby League, Clubs

  10 Copy quote

• You can get spiritual things out of books and stories and they have nothing to do with religion.

  Alan Cooper

  Spiritual, Book

  Source: puregrainaudio.com

  6 Copy quote

• Because computers have memories, we imagine that they must be something like our human memories, but that is simply not true. 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. My computer's memory stores a million phone numbers with perfect accuracy, but I have to stop and think to recall my own.

  Alan Cooper

  Memories, Thinking, Phones

  4 Copy quote

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