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Their words
These are important principles, but they ignore the problems of sustainability, inequity, and bias. In addition, the emphasis is usually on the immediate issues, not the long-term impact. In other words, they describe the way we did things in the past, not the issues in this book, and not the way we need to do things in the future.
Don Norman
Cognitive scientist and designer; author of The Design of Everyday Things; co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group; former vice president at Apple; founding director of the Design Lab at UC San Diego.
Don Norman did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
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Human-centred design ignores sustainability, inequity and bias, so design has to move to humanity-centred design that covers the whole ecosystem and the long term.
These are important principles, but they ignore the problems of sustainability, inequity, and bias. In addition, the emphasis is usually on the immediate issues, not the long-term impact. In other words, they describe the way we did things in the past, not the issues in this book, and not the way we need to do things in the future.
jnd.orgSaid 28 Mar 2023This on korrents
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Changed their mind Design thinking is a myth: designers have no special creative thought process, and the term is a public relations label for good old-fashioned creative thinking.
Before Design thinking is a public relations term for good, old-fashioned creative thinking. It is not restricted to designers. Great artists, great engineers, great scientists all break out of the boundaries. Great designers are no different.
Now As a result, I have changed my mind: Design Thinking really is special. Alas, it isn't embraced by all designers, but where it exists, it is powerful.
Said 19 Mar 2013This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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28 March 2023
26 March 2023
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Swivel to Sustainability: A Guidebook to Full Systems Business TransformationTheir words
Sustainability is now part of the stated goals of numerous companies, but if you are the person responsible for accomplishing the promise, Swivel to Sustainability is the guidebook you need.
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Make the World a Better Place: Design with Passion, Purpose, and ValuesTheir words
Kozma’s book is such a great complement to Design for a Better World that we banded together, and with two other like-minded individuals are presenting a panel discussion of our books and an international design conference (IASDR 2023). My book provides a high-level overview, including the importance of history and past events. Kozma provides excellent case studies and examples: the two books support each other so much, that I recommend reading and using both.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
How Big Things Get DoneTheir words
After I discovered this book, I wrote to Flyvbjerg saying that I wished I had read his book before writing mine because it would have made mine better
+ 5 more
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Design Journeys through Complex Systems: Practice Tools for Systemic DesignTheir words
The result is a powerful description and recommendation for taming the otherwise overwhelming complexity of methods and meetings into a coherent sensemaking process that sets the standard for these new skills and methods. All designers involved in these essential societal issues and instructors in design classes that address these need this book.
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The Impact Plan: Rethinking Today, Remaking Tomorrow, Designing a Better WorldTheir words
Anyone who pays attention to the news knows that the world is facing multiple crises. Many of us ask, what can I do to help? If you are one of those people, The Impact Plan is the book for you, providing powerful, yet easy-to-use tools that guide you through the hero’s journey, successfully attacking some of the world’s major problems, while still being yourself, an ordinary person in extraordinary times.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Livable Proximity: Ideas for the City That CaresTheir words
Manzini redefines proximity for the digital age, revealing a delightful, creative, sociable way of living. New, yet familiar, merging tradition with technology. Feasible.
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Their words
I consider this an extremely powerful and convincing book. However, although the reviewers praise it as "easy to read," I found it slow-going.
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Their words
I love the subtitle of this book: Thinking as behavioral scientists, acting as designers.
26 July 2019
From one piece People-Centered (Not Tech-Driven) Design 2 beliefs · jnd.org
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Their words
Instead of having people do the parts of a task that machines are bad at, let’s reverse the process and have machines do the parts that people are bad at. Instead of requiring people to work on technology’s terms, require the machines to work on human terms.
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Their words
Human error is blamed for over 90 percent of industrial and automobile accidents. It is the leading cause of aviation accidents, and medical error is reported to be the third-largest cause of death in the entire United States. Horrifying? Yes, but why do we label it “human error”? It is design error.
23 July 2019
From one piece The Four Fundamental Principles of Human-Centered Design and Application 2 beliefs · jnd.org
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Their words
If the people can decide, even if they come up with the same, identical solution as the expert people or machines, they will trust them, implement them, and abide with them.
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Their words
Solve the fundamental, underlying issues, not the symptoms. We recommend starting with field studies and observations of actual practice (an applied ethnography). Ask “why?” at each issue.
22 July 2019
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Their words
We challenge this approach. It encourages design by committee and infuses a superficial sense of collaboration that leads to compromises and weakens ideas. Our view, the product of years of studies of and participation in innovation projects, is that effective teams do not defer critical reflection; they create through criticism.
20 September 2014
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Their words
Affordances control what actions are possible. For designers, signifiers are far more important. Signifiers are how communication takes place, how one signals the appropriate controls and operations.
19 March 2013
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Their words, before
Design thinking is a public relations term for good, old-fashioned creative thinking. It is not restricted to designers. Great artists, great engineers, great scientists all break out of the boundaries. Great designers are no different.
Their words now
As a result, I have changed my mind: Design Thinking really is special. Alas, it isn't embraced by all designers, but where it exists, it is powerful.
From one piece Rethinking Design Thinking 2 beliefs · core77.com
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korrents.com
Breakthroughs come from questioning the obvious, and the outsider's stupid question is where that power lies.Their words
It is by questioning the obvious that we make great progress. This is where breakthroughs come from. We need to question the obvious, to reformulate our beliefs, and to redefine existing solutions, approaches, and beliefs. That is design thinking.
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Their words
I was correct in my original article: what we call design thinking is practiced in some form or other by all great thinkers, whether in literature or art, music or science, engineering or business. But the difference is that in design, there is an attempt to teach it as a systematic, practice-defining method of creative innovation.
5 December 2009
From one piece Technology First, Needs Last 3 beliefs · jnd.org
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korrents.com
The most frequent business gains come from small incremental innovations, while most revolutionary innovations fail.Their words
But if you examine the business impact of innovation, you will soon discover that the most frequent gains come from the small, incremental innovations, changes that lower costs, add some simple features, and smooth out the rough edges of a product.
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Their words
Technology first, invention second, needs last.
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Their words
I’ve come to a disconcerting conclusion: design research is great when it comes to improving existing product categories but essentially useless when it comes to new, innovative breakthroughs.
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 27 beliefs, 1 changed mind — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Human-centred design ignores sustainability, inequity and bias, so design has to move to humanity-centred design that covers the whole ecosystem and the long term.
These are important principles, but they ignore the problems of sustainability, inequity, and bias. In addition, the emphasis is usually on the immediate issues, not the long-term impact. In other words, they describe the way we did things in the past, not the issues in this book, and not the way we need to do things in the future.
Human-Centered versus Humanity-Centered Design Said 28 Mar 2023
What gets called human error is design error: technology-centred design makes people do what machines are good at and then blames them.
Human error is blamed for over 90 percent of industrial and automobile accidents. It is the leading cause of aviation accidents, and medical error is reported to be the third-largest cause of death in the entire United States. Horrifying? Yes, but why do we label it “human error”? It is design error.
People-Centered (Not Tech-Driven) Design Said 26 Jul 2019
Machines should do the parts of a task that people are bad at, so that people and technology work as partners on human terms.
Instead of having people do the parts of a task that machines are bad at, let’s reverse the process and have machines do the parts that people are bad at. Instead of requiring people to work on technology’s terms, require the machines to work on human terms.
People-Centered (Not Tech-Driven) Design Said 26 Jul 2019
Show 24 more
Human-centred design starts by solving the root issue rather than the problem as presented, which is usually the symptom.
Solve the fundamental, underlying issues, not the symptoms. We recommend starting with field studies and observations of actual practice (an applied ethnography). Ask “why?” at each issue.
The Four Fundamental Principles of Human-Centered Design and Application Said 23 Jul 2019
Experts should supply the facts and leave the methods to the people affected: a community will trust and implement a solution it chose itself, even one identical to the expert's.
If the people can decide, even if they come up with the same, identical solution as the expert people or machines, they will trust them, implement them, and abide with them.
The Four Fundamental Principles of Human-Centered Design and Application Said 23 Jul 2019
The rule to defer judgment encourages design by committee; effective teams do not defer criticism, they create through it.
We challenge this approach. It encourages design by committee and infuses a superficial sense of collaboration that leads to compromises and weakens ideas. Our view, the product of years of studies of and participation in innovation projects, is that effective teams do not defer critical reflection; they create through criticism.
Why Criticism Is Good for Creativity Said 22 Jul 2019
For designers, signifiers matter more than affordances: affordances control what is possible, signifiers are how a product communicates what to do.
Affordances control what actions are possible. For designers, signifiers are far more important. Signifiers are how communication takes place, how one signals the appropriate controls and operations.
A Great Product Ruined Said 20 Sept 2014
Discoverability and understanding are two of the most important characteristics of good design
Two of the most important characteristics of good design are discoverability and understanding.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
It is the duty of machines and their designers to understand people, not people's duty to understand the dictates of machines
It is the duty of machines and those who design them to understand people. It is not our duty to understand the arbitrary, meaningless dictates of machines.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Good design communicates from machine to person what actions are possible, what is happening and what is about to happen, above all when things go wrong
Good design requires good communication, especially from machine to person, indicating what actions are possible, what is happening, and what is about to happen. Communication is especially important when things go wrong.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Human-centered design means starting from a good understanding of people and the needs a design is meant to meet
Human-centered design is a design philosophy. It means starting with a good understanding of people and the needs that the design is intended to meet.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Affordances determine what actions are possible and signifiers communicate where to act, and design needs both
Affordances determine what actions are possible. Signifiers communicate where the action should take place. We need both.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 2013
A good conceptual model lets people predict the effects of their actions
Conceptual models are valuable in providing understanding, in predicting how things will behave, and in figuring out what to do when things do not go as planned. A good conceptual model allows us to predict the effects of our actions.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
However brilliant a product is, if people cannot use it it will be judged poorly, and making it understandable and usable is up to the designer
No matter how brilliant the product, if people cannot use it, it will receive poor reviews. It is up to the designer to provide the appropriate information to make the product understandable and usable.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Blaming a person for an error without fixing its root cause means the same error is likely to be repeated by someone else
Worse, blaming the person without fixing the root, underlying cause does not fix the problem: the same error is likely to be repeated by someone else.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
The large share of industrial accidents attributed to human error does not mean so many people are incompetent
Most industrial accidents are caused by human error: estimates range between 75 and 95 percent. How is it that so many people are so incompetent? Answer: They aren't.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Designers understand people's physical limitations well and greatly misunderstand their mental limitations
Physical limitations are well understood by designers; mental limitations are greatly misunderstood.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
It should not be possible for one simple error to cause widespread damage
It should not be possible for one simple error to cause widespread damage.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Providing a good conceptual model is the most important principle for taming complexity
The most important principle for taming complexity is to provide a good conceptual model, which has already been well covered in this book.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 2013
Most radical innovations fail, and even successful ones can take multiple decades to be accepted
Everyone wants radical innovation, but the truth is, most radical innovations fail, and even when they do succeed, it can take multiple decades before they are accepted.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 2013
Technology changes rapidly while people and culture change slowly
Technology changes rapidly, people and culture change slowly.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 2013
The most effective way to help people remember something is to make remembering it unnecessary
The most effective way of helping people remember is to make it unnecessary.
The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition) Said c. 1988–2013
Design thinking is practised by all great thinkers, but design is the one field that tries to teach it as a systematic method rather than leave it to the exceptional.
I was correct in my original article: what we call design thinking is practiced in some form or other by all great thinkers, whether in literature or art, music or science, engineering or business. But the difference is that in design, there is an attempt to teach it as a systematic, practice-defining method of creative innovation.
Rethinking Design Thinking Said 19 Mar 2013
Breakthroughs come from questioning the obvious, and the outsider's stupid question is where that power lies.
It is by questioning the obvious that we make great progress. This is where breakthroughs come from. We need to question the obvious, to reformulate our beliefs, and to redefine existing solutions, approaches, and beliefs. That is design thinking.
Rethinking Design Thinking Said 19 Mar 2013
Design research is great for improving existing product categories but essentially useless for new, innovative breakthroughs.
I’ve come to a disconcerting conclusion: design research is great when it comes to improving existing product categories but essentially useless when it comes to new, innovative breakthroughs.
Technology First, Needs Last Said 5 Dec 2009
Technology comes first, invention second and needs last: grand conceptual inventions happen because technology has made them possible, and the need develops afterwards.
Technology first, invention second, needs last.
Technology First, Needs Last Said 5 Dec 2009
The most frequent business gains come from small incremental innovations, while most revolutionary innovations fail.
But if you examine the business impact of innovation, you will soon discover that the most frequent gains come from the small, incremental innovations, changes that lower costs, add some simple features, and smooth out the rough edges of a product.
Technology First, Needs Last Said 5 Dec 2009
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 8 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Loved Sustainable Innovation: Thinking as Behavioral Scientists, Acting as Designers
I love the subtitle of this book: Thinking as behavioral scientists, acting as designers.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
Mixed on No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air
I consider this an extremely powerful and convincing book. However, although the reviewers praise it as "easy to read," I found it slow-going.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
Loved Livable Proximity: Ideas for the City That Cares
Manzini redefines proximity for the digital age, revealing a delightful, creative, sociable way of living. New, yet familiar, merging tradition with technology. Feasible.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
What others say about Livable Proximity: Ideas for the City That Cares →
Show 5 more
Recommends The Impact Plan: Rethinking Today, Remaking Tomorrow, Designing a Better World
Anyone who pays attention to the news knows that the world is facing multiple crises. Many of us ask, what can I do to help? If you are one of those people, The Impact Plan is the book for you, providing powerful, yet easy-to-use tools that guide you through the hero’s journey, successfully attacking some of the world’s major problems, while still being yourself, an ordinary person in extraordinary times.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
Recommends Design Journeys through Complex Systems: Practice Tools for Systemic Design
The result is a powerful description and recommendation for taming the otherwise overwhelming complexity of methods and meetings into a coherent sensemaking process that sets the standard for these new skills and methods. All designers involved in these essential societal issues and instructors in design classes that address these need this book.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
What others say about Design Journeys through Complex Systems: Practice Tools for Systemic Design →
Loved How Big Things Get Done
After I discovered this book, I wrote to Flyvbjerg saying that I wished I had read his book before writing mine because it would have made mine better
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
Recommends Make the World a Better Place: Design with Passion, Purpose, and Values
Kozma’s book is such a great complement to Design for a Better World that we banded together, and with two other like-minded individuals are presenting a panel discussion of our books and an international design conference (IASDR 2023). My book provides a high-level overview, including the importance of history and past events. Kozma provides excellent case studies and examples: the two books support each other so much, that I recommend reading and using both.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
What others say about Make the World a Better Place: Design with Passion, Purpose, and Values →
Recommends Swivel to Sustainability: A Guidebook to Full Systems Business Transformation
Sustainability is now part of the stated goals of numerous companies, but if you are the person responsible for accomplishing the promise, Swivel to Sustainability is the guidebook you need.
jnd.org 26 Mar 2023
Where they publish
Site jnd.org His essays, book excerpts and videos, back to the 1990s.
Link verified 6 Sept 2026.
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