Testimonials from Readers, Clients and Students

"I loved your book on UI design. I want you to know that your insights helped my company be successful. I spent (and spend) a great deal of time on the usability design of my products - primarily due to being influenced (and sensitized) by you. If you ever get to D.C. I would love to buy you dinner as a small measure of thanks for impacting me and my business in such a positive way."
  Bill Schafer, CEO
  Orthospot

"A thought-provoking and thoroughly readable introduction to fundamental GUI design concepts. If you are new to GUI design theory, this book is the perfect introduction."
  BetterView Consulting Book Reviews

"Completely sensible, well-thought out analysis of interface based on principles of cognitive psychology. Useful reading in advance of designing an interface and crucial reading for critical discussion of interfaces. Absolutely straightforward, how-to from a perspective of fundamental principles of human interaction with information in a digital environment."
  Dr. Tom Horton, Assoc. Professor
  Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Virginia
  (book used in undergraduate and graduate courses)

"Mandel also wrote the 1994 book, "The GUI-OOUI War: The Designer’s Guide to Human Computer Interfaces." He used to work at IBM where he was very involved with OS/2 and an early advocate of OOUI. I really like Mandel’s writing style, it’s so easy to read but still has a lot of meat."
  Dr. Christina Wasson
  DePaul University
  (book used in undergraduate and graduate courses)

"The importance of usability in systems design cannot be over emphasized. Systems are inherently expensive investments. A system with poor human factors is a constant drain on productivity, morale and budget. Theo Mandel has been instrumental in helping DTE to design systems that humans can use productively and without expensive training. Working with Theo is always a learning experience for my staff."
  Lynne Ellyn, Senior VP & CIO
  DTE Energy

"We had been working on Bombardier Skyjet's website redesign for several months when I decided to attend a seminar in Washington DC featuring Dr. Mandel. His presentation on best practices in website design and usability convinced me that it was time for a set of unbiased eyes to review the website before we launched it. We no longer had an objective perspective from which to recognize many small but significant design and navigational problems. Dr. Mandel was able to quickly point out the site weaknesses and suggested solutions that greatly improved the site just in time for launch!"
  Lisa Lanna, Director of Product Management
  Bombardier Skyjet

"Theo is the most professional service provider we've dealt with - he took the time to understand us and our needs - he worked with efficiency and delivered an end-product about which we get RAVE reviews. We are delighted!"
  Jeffrey Horn, Principal, Towers Perrin, NY
  Former Owner, Business Development Group

"In defining a new product, it was clear that we needed to understand the customer and user needs as well as we could. We searched for the right caliber of professional who could both establish a rapport with all levels at the customer company and also prepare an exceptional design for a user interface. Our situation was challenging, in that the users were accustomed to two different mainframe user interfaces, and we wanted to consolidate all of the features into one. We found Theo Mandel after performing a thorough search and winnowing process. Theo's reputation and credentials were outstanding. In one case, we called a reference who was such a fan that I thought he was going to climb through the phone to share his enthusiasm and admiration for Theo with me! I would happily work with Theo again. In fact, I look for opportunities to do so."
  Steven List, Director, Professional Services / Program Director
  Newgistics, Inc.

"Theo takes the time to explain the reasoning behind a certain approach. At the end of a project, you feel comfortable with the decisions that were made and can make your own usability decisions in future projects based on your experience working with Theo."
  Andy Greff, Senior Manager/Consultant
  Motive Communications/Waterstone Consulting

"As one of the leading medical information networks on the Web, we chose Theo Mandel to set the tone for HospitalSoup.com's site. The attention to detail, professionalism and personal consultation with Mr. Mandel and his staff has paid big dividends for us."
  Paul Hershey, Vice President of Marketing
  HospitalSoup.com

"Dr. Theo Mandel played a very significant role in guiding the development of our division-wide HR Intranet, designed to bring pertinent HR information directly to the desktops of 6000 employees and managers in the most user-friendly form possible. Theo's expertise in human factors and usability had a profound impact on the very successful design of the site, which has been embraced and heavily utilized by our workforce as their primary source for HR information. His "steady hand" in continually focusing us on the core principles of effective design was a critical factor in the site's ultimate effectiveness. He was a pleasure to work with and we would look forward to doing so again in the future."
  Michael Brisciana, Corporate Human Resources Manager
  The First American Corporation

"I want to take a few moments to thank you for your wonderful guidance and contribution to our recent software program. Before you came aboard and joined our developmental team, we were floundering with a well-conceived idea but one that was poorly designed, aesthetically deficient, and structurally inadequate. Through your diligent efforts and direction, our present software program has evolved into a highly professional and marketable finished product. It was a sincere joy and pleasure to work with you on this project and all of us involved in the development of this product will forever be in debt to you for your contribution. I assure you that with the onset of any future software developmental work, you will be contacted early on to enlist your continued participation. Once again, Theo, thank you for a job well done!"
  Dr. Charles R. Young, D.P.M., President
  Practice Dynamics, Inc.

"Your full-day intensive at WEB2001 was the best part of the whole conference for me. We're really struggling with getting our applications developers to include some "design" in their applications, yet remain functional and fast (we're NOT looking for the Las Vegas effect--just some aesthetics). Maybe I'll be able to get them to see some of the points you raised in your class. Again, thanks so much for your presentation at WEB2001! It was definitely the highlight of the conference for me!"
  Deborah Lake, Web Coordinator & Administrative Assistant
  UCAR Information Technology

"Thanks for the good presentation. It was just what I needed and just when I needed it. You added value by referencing many links and resources for further information that are not readily available (contrasted with other speakers who only quoted useit.com, etc.). The week would have been worth the money if yours was the only session I attended."
  Paula Coil, Schlumberger Network Solutions

"I attended your lecture in San Francisco. I was very impressed with the depth of your professionalism and the thoroughness of your notes."
  Bill Bailey, FirstUnion.com

"The tutorial I attended was entitled 'Effective and Usable Web Interface Design,' taught by Theo Mandel. He was an excellent presenter, very engaging and well prepared, and gave out the thickest booklet of notes of the whole conference-practically a book in itself. The tutorial focused on ways that web designers and developers can utilize the extensive research that has been done on how people interact with computers to make their sites easier to use and more effective. For those interested in learning more on this subject (read: any web designer!), check out Theo Mandel’s book 'Elements of User Interface Design' or Jakob Nielsen’s book 'Designing Web Usability.'"
  Laura Johnston, Seybold SF2000 Review

"Dr. Mandel, I have to take this opportunity to thank you for a truly wonderful Monday tutorial at the IBM TI. I am very glad to have spent the whole day that way. Since my college days I have had a profound interest for cognitive psychology and I found this session to be a great example of cog. psych. put into practice. Much of what you talked about applies in my world - I do some application programming, web and otherwise - but also in project planning, management and maybe even presale. My company tries to take care of the "Total User Experience" by putting already available products together to complete systems, only adding our own code where we have to. User interfaces, when looked upon as every area where humans interact with a system (not necessarily a computer system), exist EVERYWHERE when you think about it. That, to me, is why cognitive psychology and user interfaces are so interesting, and for the very same reason I believe that some of the things you brought up in your tutorial applies to so many fields of my work. Again, thank you very much."
  Andreas Stenmark, System Specialist
  UNIX Alfaskop Östergötland AB, Sweden

"Theo Mandel's course exposed real problems, discussed real issues, and presented real solutions."
  Stephen Rutherford, Cornell University

"I liked the hands-on approach showing various design styles--from the text-based to object-oriented interfaces. The use of examples and demonstrations of product interfaces was excellent."
  Ed Kennedy, IBM Corporation

"Dr. Mandel was very, very good. He offered insight into the user's importance as part of the design effort."
  Robert Rosen, RSC, Inc.

"Quick-paced, relevant, focused. My attention was held with specific examples and insights."
  Jean Serro, Chase Manhattan Bank

• Good topic / well organized
• Great session in terms of content and speaker
• Great presentation! Thanks!
• This was a fantastic session. Plenty to take back with us. Worth the price of the conference! Thank you
• The most practical, business-oriented info yet
• Another very important class for Website developer or project managers. I enjoyed and learned many topics from this class. Thanks! Wished this class were longer
• He knows his subject. Need more Q&A
• Excellent material and presentation. Best I've seen here. Best session I've seen so far. Would have liked to see more examples
• Exactly one of the areas I am working on
• Thanks! Best of show
• It would be great if Mandel's presentation were expanded to a full 1-day tutorial
• Very good presentation! Lots of practical hints. Having handouts on site would have helped immensely. Vast amounts of good data on slides
• Excellent specifics. Single most helpful session so far!
• Great focus, need more speakers who focus on Intranet
• Best class so far. Content: 1) more on Interface Design for Intranets/extranets would be helpful 2) Less on overall process
• Great handouts! Thorough content. Useful information
• Like the idea of making the guidelines a site and getting feedback from testing them in action
• Enjoy this session as well as others. We like the focus on design and development
• Suggestions: 1) reduce class size and repeat courses so that we could attend more sessions; 2) keep it to 1 hour 15 min with 15 min break
• Very knowledgeable. Good info
• Superb! Excellent session! Would also like to see and hear your opinions of other corporate sites - what you think will work, what does not
• Thanks for filling the whole session time with valuable information. Please have example Design guide available on the website
• Excellent information; clearly presented and well thought out process. Gave me many good ideas about guidelines, standard and the development
• Great session! Well-organized/very informative!
• Excellent session! Good balance of concepts, examples and how-to. Overall the visual aids were very good, but the type size was a little small on some of them.
• Excellent presenter. Informative and knowledgeable. Nice job!
• We are building our corp. Intranet now and your examples and information will assist us in the process
• Theo was great! Very informative. Some very good tips.
• Excellent, very prepared
• Good presentation. Good content
• Good talk - delivered as promised
• Most practical presentation of all I've attended! Speaker seemed very informed on topic
• Well thought out and presented
• Please invite him back, he was very helpful
• Lots of good info, but hard to take it all in (especially after lunch!)
• Very good real world and theory mix of topics. Fairly common sensible
• He should consider doing an all-day tutorial - plenty of material there. From my experiences, I'd like to see more courses on dealing with the people and political aspects of developing sites. How to overcome the territorial aspects of companies or departments
• Good class. Amazing. He commands the topic. Very inspiring because this is what I want to do. Great talk!
• One of the few sessions I've seen with real examples to demonstrate points
• Theo did a great job. One nit: this was really only about Intranet, not Internet design
• You really "hit home" with your presentation. HR in my organization (government) is currently going through a restructuring of the corporate HR Intranet (trying to move from a Plan B to Plan A corp. Intranet site). Thank you for your insight!
• Great speaker, great session
• The content of this session was great. One of the two best I have seen so far
• Theo Mandel is very knowledgeable