Jef Raskin Design Quotations

A well-designed and humane interface does not need to be split into beginner and expert subsystems.

What users want is convenience and results.

Once the product's task is known, design the interface first; then implement to the interface design.

I am only a footnote, but proud of the footnote I have become. My subsequent work on eliciting principles and developing the theory of interface design, so that many people will be able to do what I did is probably also footnote-worthy. In looking back at this turn-of-the-century period, the rise of a worldwide network will be seen as the most significant part of the computer revolution.

If our field is "to advance", we must - without displacing creativity and aesthetics - make sure our terminology is clear.

I am confident that we can do better than GUIs because the basic problem with them (and with the Linux and Unix interfaces) is that they ask a human being to do things that we know experimentally humans cannot do well. The question I asked myself is, given everything we know about how the human mind works, could we design a computer and computer software so that we can work with the least confusion and greatest efficiency?

As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product.