PEOPLE AREN'T STUPID

Stop Being an Idiot.I hear this phrase a lot, and even recently, out of my own mouth: “Users are stupid, so we have to dumb this down to the lowest common.” Stop it. Just stop it.. (i have read this articles) and my opinion is to teach people, don’t criticize them.People aren’t stupid. Really, they’re not. It’s possible they don’t have the same experiences you do, but that doesn’t mean they’re an idiot. Writing people off, and dumbing down utility in the name of stupidity is, well, stupid. Bring people with you, and provide them tools to learn and be successful.Exercise and Education,when you exercise, you stretch yourself. You get healthy by pushing past your existing level of fitness. You don’t succeed by dumbing down your workout. You push, you learn, and you get better. We educate users the same way. We must show, explain, and gently push our users to succeed.Simple, not Stupid

And don’t misunderstand. Keep things simple. But simple doesn’t mean stupid. Simple doesn’t mean boring. And simple certainly doesn’t mean standard. It means you can figure it out, even if it takes a minimal amount of thinking.1 1What’s interesting is that making something simple is significantly more difficult than making it complicated. Simple takes thought. It takes work, and lots of it.And here’s the real truth: If you’re dumbing down people around you,because you think people won’t ‘get it,’ you’re hurting the experience .Either way, you’re keeping people from learning, and that’s just uncool.So stop thinking people are stupid. Teach them, and let them succeed,if you let them, they’ll teach you a thing or two as well. :)