16 UX Quotes You Need to Read as a UX Designer

Last Updated on September 7, 2024 by UX World

Quotes are the best source of inspiration and learning. While working on UX design, UX quotes act similarly for UX designers. They get inspiration and stay motivated by going through the related quotes.

I love to collect and read quotes, specifically related to UX design. These quotes are guidelines that help me to learn about UI/UX and I can easily find solutions to my problems in these quotes.

Below is a collection of UX quotes to guide you in various aspects of your design journey. Each quote is given a relevant title so you can recognize them easily. 

#1. Clarify the Problem

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” — Charles Kettering

The first step to solving a problem is to clarify it, only then you can propose a solution.

To clearly understand your design problem, meet your users and ask them questions about the requirements. Define the problem in your own words. Make a plan to work on it. Then focus on the possible solutions.

Working on an unclear problem can lead to incorrect and irrelevant solutions.

#2. Be Consistent

“A consistent experience is a better experience.” — Mark Eberman

Be consistent with your design. Your user feels very comfortable when he finds familiar experiences while working on your product.

Providing a separate solution each time you solve a problem will confuse the user. Consistency, on the other hand, helps users find the information they are looking for.

You need to take care of consistency both in terms of visual design and the experience you provide to your users.

#3. Be Creative

 

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams

Be creative and be original.

Use your imagination to predict the user’s possible interactions with the product you are designing. Then turn your imagination into visual mockups and see whether they are making sense or not. Try again if you do not feel good about your ideas.

You can create correct designs only if you correct your mistakes. No one has designed an amazing product in a single attempt.

#4. Aim for a WOW Design

 

“There are three responses to a piece of design– yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.” — Milton Glaser

Dream for the best and work for it.

Do not sit for an ordinary design. Try until your inner self is satisfied with what you have designed.

Try to go beyond your users’ expectations, so that they become satisfied. Go out of the way to help your users.

The best can only be achieved when you aim for it.

#5. Love Your User

 

“Want your users to fall in love with your designs? Fall in love with your users.” — Dana Chisnell

If you ignore your users, they will ignore your product. Keep your users first in your mind. See them, observe them, and talk to them.

Do not make decisions without taking users’ opinions. Make them part of your design process. Own their problems. Learn from their complaints. Only then you will be able to make a product usable for them.

#6. Be Competitive

 

“Good design is the most important way to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.” — Yun Jong Yong

In this competitive and crowded world, only a good design can help you to stand out in the industry. To distinguish yourself, you have to follow a few rules.

• Make extra efforts to serve your users. Target their pain points and address them.
• Follow a proper design process as this will help you reach your goals more effectively.
• Do research. Keep yourself updated and never stop learning. Learn from the web, learn from your environment, and learn from people around you.
• Before comparing to others, compare your versions of work. If you are getting better, no doubt you are moving towards success.

#7. Spend for Good Design

 

“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”Dr. Ralf Speth

Good design is expensive, but bad design costs even more.

The consequences of a bad design can be dangerous for you. You lose the trust of your user. You earn a bad repute in the industry which can be very expensive to change. You spend money on building and re-building your design.

Hence, it is better to spend reasonable time, money, and effort to build experiences that can make a difference.

#8. Don’t Make Personal Opinions

 

“Like all forms of design, visual design is about problem-solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion.” — Bob Baxley

Keep your users’ objectives in mind and define the possible ways to meet them.

You are not your user, and neither people around you are your users. Never try to impose your likes and dislikes on your design. You are not designing for yourself.

#9. Avoid Fake Experts

 

“Because every person knows what he likes, every person thinks he is an expert on user interfaces.” — Paul Heckel

Everyone around you can be a designer. But everyone should not design.

It is your job to identify your stakeholders and involve them in the design process. You can take their feedback but do not allow them to drive you. Keeping everyone involved in your process and getting a lot of feedback can harm your creativity.

Becoming an expert in the UX field requires a lot of effort, time, and research. It has nothing to do with someone’s likes/dislikes.

#10. Focus on Ease of Use

 

“Ease of use may be invisible, but its absence sure isn’t.” — IBM

If users can achieve their goals easily while working on your product, then you have designed something easy to use.

Make careful decisions while committing any additional functionality for your product as if you provide a lot of features, then you may have to compromise ease of use. Make ease of use your priority. Ease of use is the first thing that users feel about your product.

“People choose not on the basis of what’s most important, but on what’s easiest to evaluate.” — Barry Schwartz

#11. Generate a Thousand Ideas

 

“If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good I am satisfied.” — Alfred Nobel

So, come up with a thousand ideas and not only one. Learn from your mistakes. Your thousand ideas will move you towards a refined one that can have the ability to change the world.

Never restrict yourself.

This is true about designing user interfaces. You reach the best approach after trying many interim ideas and options. These interim options help you learn a lot and make you an expert in your field.

#12. Make Understandable Design

 

“If you find an element of your interface requires instructions, then you need to redesign it.” — Dan Rubin

When you use a product, app, or website, how much do you refer to the manual, user guide, or help material? Most of us do not bother to open any help material, instead, we leave the site if we do not understand how to proceed.

A design should be self-explanatory and understandable for the user.

#13. Eliminate Unnecessary UI

 

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” — Hans Hofmann

Keep things simple. Do not complicate your product with extra features.

If you are working on a complex product, try to make a clear difference between basic flows and complex scenarios. There is a big audience interested in basic features only. Do not make things difficult for them. Make complex features accessible to relevant users only.

#14. Make Things Simple

 

“Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.” — C.W. Ceram

It is easy to make things complex. The real challenge is to make things simple and easy for the audience.

Users of most age groups know how to use a smartphone quickly and easily. This is an example of how simplicity attracts a large number of users.

Avoid distractions in design and make things simple. Provide efficient ways to fulfill the requirements quickly and easily.

#15. Take Initiative

 

“Don’t stare at a blank page for too long, be bold, and make the first incisive stroke. The rest will come naturally.” — James Kingman

Don’t spend too much time on planning.

If you have an idea, put it on paper, screen, or whatever way you want to share it. You will see that ideas are coming like anything.

If you do something wrong, then only you will be able to make it right. The only necessary thing is to love what you’re doing.

#16. Focus on User Experience

 

“Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” — Steve Jobs

The user interface is different than user experience.

Making beautiful interfaces will not take you anywhere unless it efficiently fulfills your user’s needs.

Your users will always remember the experience your product is providing to them. To earn the users’ confidence and trust, provide them with a satisfying experience.

Read more about UX Quotes.