What John Zeratsky thinks about design
American designer and author; co-wrote Sprint (2016), Make Time (2018) and Click (2025) with Jake Knapp, previously a design partner at GV and designer at YouTube and Google, and co-founder of Character.
John Zeratsky 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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1 dated position, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what John Zeratsky has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingWhat we call irrational is the normal human approach, and products should be designed for it.
Their wordsI wish the polarity of “rational” and “irrational” were flipped, because what we call irrational is actually the normal human approach to things. “Rational” is an invention — it’s a mode we can switch into, but it’s not where we spend most of our time. By framing “irrational” as a negative, people think of it as an exception; a problem to be fixed. In reality, it’s normal. We should be clear about it, and design our systems and our products to acknowledge that.
↗Irrational is normal, so why is it phrased as a negative?johnzeratsky.com