Alan Cooper Quotes, born June 3, 1952, in San Francisco, California, is an American software designer, programmer, and author, widely recognized as the “Father of Visual Basic” for creating the “Ruby” programming language, which Microsoft developed into Visual Basic. As the founder of Cooper, a leading interaction design consultancy, he pioneered the Goal-Directed Design methodology and the use of personas in user experience (UX) design. His influential books, About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design (1995) and The Inmates Are Running the Asylum (1999), advocate for user-centric software design. These 15 quotes—sourced from his books, interviews, and posts on X—reflect his insights on design, technology, and user experience, capturing his innovative and user-focused spirit.
15 Alan Cooper Quotes
- “Define what the product will do before you design how the product will do it.” (About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, 2014)
- “If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.” (About Face: The A-Z of Interaction Design, 2012)
- “The only thing more expensive than writing software is writing bad software.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
- “No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
- “A powerful tool in the early stages of developing scenarios is to pretend the interface is magic.” (About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, 2012)
- “The value of a prototype is in the education it gives you, not in the code itself.” (Post on X, @CodeWisdom, 2022-01-21)
- “Usability’s strength is in identifying problems, while design’s strength is in identifying solutions.” (About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, 2014)
- “Ironically, the thing that will likely make the least improvement in the ease of use of software-based products is new technology.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
converse - “You can blame the ‘stupid user’ all you want, but you still have to staff those phones with expensive tech-support people.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
- “Design is not so much a design issue as a power struggle.” (About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, 2012)
- “E-mail is the most influential application ever to appear on a personal computer, and it remains sadly deficient.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
- “Computers no longer interface with humans—they interact, and the interaction will become steadily deeper, more subtle, and more crucial.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
- “I have a cell phone that doesn’t behave like a phone: It behaves like a computer that makes calls.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
- “The best designs are often the simplest ones; they don’t overwhelm the user with countless features, but instead focus on what truly matters.” (Interview, Bookey, 2023)
- “One of the most heinous, insidious lies is the notion that you have to be an asshole to be a successful business person.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999)
Alan Cooper’s quotes are a brilliant mix of clarity, user advocacy, and design wisdom, inspiring programmers and designers to prioritize simplicity and human needs. Which one’s got you ready to rethink your next project or champion better UX? Drop it in the comments and keep Cooper’s user-centric legacy thriving!
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