Simple and Usable

is an excellent book by Giles Colborne (isbn 0-321-70354-5). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages

If you ask people they'll say everything is important and anything is feasible.


We tend to keep things, even when they're broken.


Your first design may seem like a solution, but it's usually just an early definition of the problem you are trying to solve. Luke Wroblewski.


Broken gets fixed. Shoddy lasts forever. Jack Moffett.


Feature lists sell so as long customers don't get a chance to use the product.


Mainstreamers want "good enough quickly;" experts want "perfect in as long as it takes."


People prefer to be pilots, not passengers.


"Seven plus or minus two." Many psychologists now believe short-term memory may be rather smaller - perhaps just four items.


Simple organization is about what feels good as you're using the software, not what looks logical in a plan.


Designing simple user experiences often turns out not to be about "How can I make this simple?" but rather "Where should I move the complexity?"


The secret to creating a simple user experience is to shift complexity into the right place, so that each moment feels simple.


Don't try to fill your user's mind with your design.