Design for Real Life

We’ll never gather every single perspective; we can’t interview the universe every time we build a website. But even with a handful of diverse people, we can learn a tremendous amount about where our product might break, and how we can avoid that

When you’re designing a form, try reading every question out loud to an imagined stranger, listening to how it sounds and imagining the questions they might have in response.

As you read aloud, pretend you're talking to a real person and ask yourself "Would I say this to someone in real life?"

When we build content and designs that stand up against stress, we stop filling our pages with clever-but-meaningless fluff; we stop foisting features on users who haven’t asked for them; we stop attempting to tell users how they ought to feel.

They remind us that no one is using our services in a truly ideal state: distraction-free, on the latest equipment, while emotionally content, and with as much time as it takes.

Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others.

Write for the urgent case.