Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.

The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.

Isn't one of your first exercises in learning how to communicate to write a description of how to tie your shoelaces? The point being that it's basically impossible to use text to show that

Technology may change rapidly, but people change slowly. The principals [of design] come from understanding of people. They remain true forever.

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.

Also note that invariably when we design something that can be used by those with disabilities, we often make it better for everyone

I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them

Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.

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.

Knowing how people will use something is essential

Complexity is acceptable as long as it is intelligible and necessary. We want to avoid needless complications.

A teacher of mine once said there are no true synonyms.

Don't look around for the path you are meant to follow, forge it yourself.

For awhile after you quit Keats all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming.

People sacrifice the present for the future. But life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and the now.

The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity.

Fluency avoids hard thoughts.

I have never understood, for instance, why some people see contemporary art as divided between 'painting' and 'conceptual art', as though this represented a genuine division.

There's been a lot of coming home in the early mornings after funny nights out, having bizarre sandwiches in bed.

Coping with the totality of Spaceship Earth and universe is ahead for all of us.

All difficulties are easy when they are known.