In this blog post, we’ve put together a list of the best UX quotes, divided into UX design, UX research, and product design categories. These quotes provide insight, inspiration, and a fresh perspective on UX.
UX Design Quotes
Inspiration and motivation for a UX designer can originate from various places. Quotes from professionals and leaders in the field may be one of the most potent sources of motivation.
Here are some of the most inspiring quotes on UX design:
1. “Design isn’t just what it looks like and feels like — design is how it works.”
– Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple
This quote illustrates why creating something well-designed doesn’t just entail having it seem attractive; it also involves ensuring that the user interface is simple enough for anybody to use without special training.
2. “A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not that good.”
– Martin LeBlanc, CEO and founder of IconFinder
The user interface should be intuitive and easy to understand. This means that the UI should be designed to clarify what the user needs to do to achieve a specific task or goal, and there should be minimal or no barriers to understanding how the interface works.
3. “Your old site is the best prototype of your new site.”
– Hoa Loranger, Vice President at Nielsen Norman Group
Designers may utilize the previous site as a prototype to make data-driven decisions and develop a new design that addresses the problems with the old site and enhances the user experience.
By considering the current design and user behavior on the old site, designers may discover what functions well and what requires improvement when rebuilding a website or application. They also collect user information and comments to comprehend consumer wants and preferences and guide the new site’s design.
4. “If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”
-Dr Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover
When the UX is bad, it can cause users frustration and lead to decreased productivity, lower sales, and lead lost revenue. Users may need help navigating the site, finding what they need, or completing a task, leading to a poor user experience and potentially driving them away from the product. Bad design can also lead to higher development, maintenance, and support costs.
It might require additional resources to fix the issues caused by bad design, which could have been prevented with sound design in the first place.
5. “Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.”
-Paul Rand, Art Director and Graphic Designer who designed the IBM logo
Design plays a crucial role in representing and communicating brand’s identity and values. A company’s design elements, such as its logo, colors, typography, and imagery, can be a powerful tool for creating a robust and consistent brand image and message.
6. “The next big thing is the one that makes the last big thing usable.”
– Blake Ross, Co-creator of Mozilla Firefox
The UX of a product determines how excellent it is. Even the most cutting-edge technology will only gain widespread acceptance if it is user-friendly. The quote emphasizes that true innovation in design is not about adding new features for the sake of it but about making existing features more usable and accessible for the user.
The next big thing in design should be focused on improving the user experience and making it more intuitive and easy to use rather than adding new and unnecessary features that might confuse the user.
7. “Very often design is the most immediate way of defining what products become in people’s minds.”
-Jony Ive, Former chief design officer at Apple
Design can influence how people perceive a product, even before they can use it. A well-designed product can create a positive first impression and make people more likely to be interested in trying it out. On the other hand, a poorly designed product can create a negative first impression and make it less likely that people will be interested in using it.
UX Research Quotes
UX research is a crucial part of the design process, as it helps to understand the needs and wants of the end user. To help inspire and guide your research efforts, here are a few quotes from experts in the field of user experience:
8. “Pay attention to what users do, not what they say.”
– Jakob Nielson, Co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group
It’s essential to pay attention to what users do rather than what they say because their actions can provide valuable insights into their behavior and preferences. By observing how users interact with a product or service, designers can gather data on how users actually use the product and identify pain points and areas for improvement.
This can be more valuable than relying on user feedback, which can be subjective and may not accurately reflect how users actually use the product.
9. “If you want to create a great product, you have to start by understanding the people who will use it.”
-Don Norman, Co-founder and Principal of Nielson Norman Group
Understanding the user’s needs, behaviors, and preferences is key to creating a successful product. This can be achieved through user research, which allows designers to gather data on user behavior, preferences, and pain points. By understanding the users, designers can create a product tailored to their needs and provides a positive user experience.
10. “The best products are born from a deep empathy with the people who use them.”
-Bill Buxton, Partner Researcher at Microsoft Research
Great products are born from a deep understanding of the user’s needs, behaviors, and preferences, which can be achieved through user research. This research can provide valuable insights into the user’s needs and preferences. It can inform the design process, ensuring that the product is tailored to meet the users’ needs.
11. “To find ideas, find problems. To find problems, talk to people.”
-Julie Zhou, Former VP of Product Design at Facebook
The key to finding good ideas for design is to identify problems that users are facing, and the best way to find these problems is by talking to people. This quote emphasizes the importance of user research and the need to understand the user’s needs, behaviors, and pain points to identify problems that need to be addressed.
12. “Usability is like love. You have to care, you have to listen, and you have to be willing to change. You’ll make mistakes along the way, but that’s where growth and forgiveness come in.”
-Jeffrey Zeldman, Principal Designer at Automattic
Creating a usable product is not a one-time task but a continuous process requiring effort and care over time. The quote emphasizes that designers must care about the user’s experience and be willing to listen to their feedback and make changes as needed to create a usable product.
It’s essential to take the time to understand the user’s needs and preferences and to be open to making changes to the design to improve the user’s experience.
13. “If you want a great site, you’ve got to test. After you’ve worked on a site for even a few weeks, you can’t see it freshly anymore. You know too much. The only way to find out if it really works is to test it.”
– Steve Krug, Author of Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Testing is essential in the design process to identify usability issues and ensure that the product meets the users’ needs. It allows designers to gather data on user behavior, preferences, and pain points and identify improvement areas. It’s essential to test a product or service with real users to get a clear picture of its users and to identify any issues that need to be addressed.
14. “When we do a lot of user research, it’s easy to feel confident…But if you do user research well, you will always find something that is surprising.
No matter how much research we do, no matter how much time we spend with our customers, we can’t completely know them. And I feel like the goal of user research should be to find those moments.”
– Teresa Torres, Founder of Producttalk.org
User research should be a continuous process, and it is essential to always be open to new insights and discoveries, even if they contradict previously known. The quote highlights that user research can be an iterative process and that it can be easy to feel confident in the findings from a single research project.
However, it’s important to remember that research should always be done to understand the user’s needs, behaviors, and pain points and that it should continue after a single project. It’s essential to continue to gather data and to be open to new insights and discoveries, even if they contradict previous findings.
Quotes about Product Design
Product design is creating new products that meet the users’ needs and bring value to the market. It is a complex process that involves understanding the user’s needs, researching the market, and developing innovative solutions. These iconic product design quotes from industry experts and leaders can provide valuable insights and inspiration for product designers:
15. “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”
-Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO
The quote highlights that design thinking is a human-centered approach, which puts the users’ needs and perspectives at the centre of the design process. It emphasizes that design thinking draws from the designer’s toolkit, which includes methods and techniques such as user research, prototyping, and testing, to understand the users’ needs and to create solutions tailored to the users’ needs.
16. “Our role is to imagine products that don’t exist and guide them to life.”
-Christopher Stringer, Former Designer at Apple
This quote suggests that product designers use their imagination and creativity to envision products that don’t currently exist and bring them to life. It highlights the importance of innovation and the ability to think outside the box in product design.
This quote also emphasizes the importance of guidance in the product design process. A product designer must be able to guide the product from the initial concept to the final product and through the development process to ensure that the product meets the users’ needs and that it is feasible to produce and profitable.
17. “Accessible design is good design.”
-Steve Ballmer, Former CEO of Microsoft
Accessible design can improve usability, user experience, and satisfaction for all users, not just those with disabilities. Accessible design is essential because it allows everyone equal access to products and services, regardless of their abilities. When a product is accessible, it is not only more straightforward for people with disabilities to use, but it is also more usable for everyone.
18.”I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.”
Lindo Leader, Graphic Designer and Author of FedEx logo
Simplicity refers to the ability to communicate an idea or message clearly and straightforwardly. Clarity refers to the ability to present information in a way that is easy to understand and interpret. Simplicity in design is crucial because it allows the user to understand the message quickly and allows the designer to convey the message with less complexity. Simple designs are often more effective, as they are easier to understand, use and remember.
19. “People’s interest is in the product, not in its authorship.”
-Jonathan Ive, Former chief design officer at Apple
This quote suggests that people are primarily interested in the product itself and its functionality rather than in the designer or creator behind it. It highlights that the focus of design should be on creating a useful, functional product that meets the users’ needs.
20. “If you watched companies such as Sony and Samsung grow, they focused first on features and then on industrial design, which made their products look and feel better.”
-Jefferson Han, CEO and Co-Founder of PerceptiveIO
Features refer to the functional characteristics of a product, such as its performance, functionality, and usability. Industrial design refers to the aesthetic aspects of a product, such as its appearance, form, and ergonomics.
The quote suggests that these companies initially focused on developing products with the right features and made sure that the products performed well and met the users’ needs. Then, they focused on industrial design, which made the products look and feel better. The quote implies that the combination of a product with good features and good design is what made these companies successful in the market.
Found your favorite UX quote?
These 20 UX quotes offer valuable insights and inspiration for anyone involved in the field of UX. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned professional, we hope they gave you a sprinkle of motivation to create products that users love and never forget to stay user-centered.
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