The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
Stop letting programmers design the products users hate.
Cooper argues that high tech products frustrate people because they are designed by engineers optimizing for what is easy to build rather than what users actually need. He introduces personas and goal-directed design as a remedy and makes the business case for interaction design as a distinct discipline. The book popularized personas for a wide audience.
Founders in tech often let engineering convenience dictate the product, and Cooper shows why that quietly destroys usability and market value. The book makes a sharp business argument for putting design authority in the right hands early.
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