Design cannot rescue failed content.
Only drug dealers and software companies call their customers ‘users’
Simple design, intense content.
Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. And so the point is to find design strategies that reveal detail and complexity – rather than to fault the data for an excess of complication. Or, worse, to fault viewers for a lack of understanding.
Design isn’t crafting a beautiful, textured button with breathtaking animation. It’s figuring out if there’s a way to get rid of the button altogether.
Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual.
The idea is that the content is the interface, the information is the interface, not computer-administrative debris.
Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.
If your words or images are not on point, making them dance in color won’t make them relevant.
What is to be sought in designs for the display of information is the clear portrayal of complexity. Not the complication of the simple; rather the task of the designer is to give visual access to the subtle and the difficult – that is, revelation of the complex.
The essential test of design is how well it assists the understanding of the content, not how stylish it is.
Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.
The most common user action on a Web site is to flee.
The point of the essay is to change things.
A metaphor for good information design is a map. Hold any diagram against a map and see how it compares.
The world is much more interesting than any one discipline.
The minimum we should hope for with any display technology is that it should do no harm.
What this means is that we shouldn’t abbreviate the truth but rather get a new method of presentation.