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Serious accidents are frequently blamed on "human error." Yet careful analysis of such situations shows that the design or installation of the equipment has contributed significantly to the problems. The design team or installers did not pay sufficient attention to the needs of those who would be using the equipment, so confusion or error was almost unavoidable.

— Donald Norman The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

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More quotes by Donald Norman

If people keep buying poorly designed products, manufacturers and designers will think they are doing the right thing and continue as usual.

The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

When a device as simple as a door has to come with an instruction manual—even a one-word manual—then it is a failure, poorly designed.

The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

Average a left-hander with a right-hander and what do you get?

The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right.

Innocence lost is not easily regained. The designer simply cannot predict the problems people will have, the misinterpretations that will arise, and the errors that will get made.

The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Donald Norman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.