What Don Norman thinks about innovation
Cognitive scientist and designer; author of The Design of Everyday Things; co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group; former vice president at Apple; founding director of the Design Lab at UC San Diego.
Don Norman did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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6 dated positions, 2009 to 2019, in their own words. Our reading of what Don Norman has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsWe challenge this approach. It encourages design by committee and infuses a superficial sense of collaboration that leads to compromises and weakens ideas. Our view, the product of years of studies of and participation in innovation projects, is that effective teams do not defer critical reflection; they create through criticism.
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Our readingMost radical innovations fail, and even successful ones can take multiple decades to be accepted
Their wordsEveryone wants radical innovation, but the truth is, most radical innovations fail, and even when they do succeed, it can take multiple decades before they are accepted.
↗The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition)books.google.com All 15 from this book
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Their wordsTechnology changes rapidly, people and culture change slowly.
↗The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013, revised and expanded edition)books.google.com All 15 from this book
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Their wordsI was correct in my original article: what we call design thinking is practiced in some form or other by all great thinkers, whether in literature or art, music or science, engineering or business. But the difference is that in design, there is an attempt to teach it as a systematic, practice-defining method of creative innovation.
- 3 years earlier
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Their wordsBut if you examine the business impact of innovation, you will soon discover that the most frequent gains come from the small, incremental innovations, changes that lower costs, add some simple features, and smooth out the rough edges of a product.
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Their wordsTechnology first, invention second, needs last.