Jakob Nielsen, often called as „the Web’s usability czar” or “the usability Pope“, is one of the world’s most influential designers. He regularly gives lectures on web-design and write articles on major mistakes. Here are his 10+ most thought-provoking quotes to be taken into account when it comes to professional web-design.
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On average, when you ask someone to perform a task on a site, they cannot do it. It’s not their fault; it’s the designer’s fault.
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A bad website is like a grumpy salesperson.
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On the Web, all advantages are temporary, and you must keep innovating to stay ahead.
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In the attention economy, anyone trying to connect with an audience must treat the user’s time as the ultimate resource.
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A general principle for all user interface design is to go through all of your design elements and remove them one at a time.
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Even the best designers produce successful products only if their designs solve the right problems. A wonderful interface to the wrong features will fail.
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A web-designer does a unique job: He or She increases user satisfaction and the profits of the given company. There are only a few jobs like this in the world.
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To design an easy-to-use interface, pay attention to what users do, not what they say.
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Ultimately, users visit your website for its content. Everything else is just the backdrop.
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It is easy to build a bulky design by adding layer upon layer of navigation and features; it’s much more difficult to create simple, graceful designs. Paring designs to essential elements while maintaining elegance and functionality requires courage and discipline.