Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Learn about Alan Cooper (born June 3, 1952), the American software designer and “Father of Visual Basic,” his innovations in UX and interaction design, his methodology of Goal-Directed Design, his books, and his enduring influence in technology.

Introduction

Alan Cooper is an American software designer, programmer, and design thinker, born on June 3, 1952. “Father of Visual Basic” for his early work that influenced Microsoft’s VB, and is a key figure in the user experience (UX) and interaction design fields.

His contributions go beyond code: Cooper pioneered methods such as personas and Goal-Directed Design, and has written seminal books (e.g. About Face, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum) that have shaped how designers and developers think about software usability.

This article explores the full arc of Cooper’s life: his early days, key innovations, philosophical foundations, and lasting legacy in technology and design.

Early Life and Family

Alan Cooper was born in San Francisco, California on June 3, 1952, and grew up in Marin County.

His family background was modest: his father worked as an electrician.

In interviews, Cooper has described dropping out of high school as a turning point: he embraced that “failure” label as part of his identity, using it to fuel nonlinear thinking.

He later attended the College of Marin, studying architecture, while doing contract programming work to support himself.

This blending of architectural thinking (space, structure, aesthetics) with programming would influence his later ideas about software “architecture” and interaction design.

Youth, Education & Early Career

Transition from Architecture to Programming

While studying architecture, Cooper took on programming work to help with expenses.

One early inflection occurred when microcomputers became commercially available: Cooper recognized that with a personal computer and some code, one person could create meaningful software. Structured Systems Group (SSG), in 1975 in Oakland, California.

Structured Systems Group & Early Products

At SSG, Cooper and his team developed business software for microcomputers. Their product General Ledger is sometimes cited as one of the first serious business applications for early microcomputers.

Over several years, Cooper produced a suite of original software products via SSG. In 1980, he sold his stake in the company and moved on to new ventures.

In the early 1980s, he also collaborated with Gordon Eubanks to work on CBASIC, a business programming language competing with Microsoft BASIC.

During that period, he authored business apps including Microphone II for Windows and SuperProject, a critical-path project management tool. He sold SuperProject to Computer Associates in 1984.

These early experiences sharpened his perspective not just on coding, but on usability, user workflows, and how software should interface with human goals.

Career & Achievements

Birth of Visual Basic & the VBX System

One of Cooper’s landmark contributions occurred in 1988, when he created a visual programming shell project codenamed “Ruby”—intended as a toolkit for constructing graphical shells. VBX (dynamically installable controls) that allowed third-party developers to build custom UI widgets (DLLs) that would plug into the environment.

Microsoft took notice and acquired Ruby’s technology, adapting it into Visual Basic, a tool for rapidly building Windows GUI applications. Cooper’s VBX architecture became a core mechanism in VB’s extensibility.

Because of this, Cooper has long been called the “Father of Visual Basic.”

Shift to Interaction Design

While technical achievements established his credentials, Cooper’s major legacy lies in rethinking how we design software. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he began advocating for user-centered approaches: asking not what can we code, but how will the user interact with this.

In 1992, Alan and his wife, Sue Cooper, founded Cooper (originally Cooper Software, later Cooper Interaction Design), one of the first consultancies entirely dedicated to interaction design.

At Cooper, he developed and refined Goal-Directed Design, a methodology that starts with understanding users’ goals, creating personas representing user archetypes, and designing software tailored to help those users achieve their objectives.

He also popularized personas, scenarios, and application “postures” (e.g. sovereign, transient, informational) in how software presents itself to users.

Books and Thought Leadership

Cooper has authored several influential books:

• About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design (first edition in 1995) (later editions retitled About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design)

• The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (1998)

These texts argue that software design must center on human needs rather than internal engineering constraints. The Inmates… in particular warns of “cognitive friction” — the resistance a user feels when software is poorly designed.

Over the years, Cooper has lectured, consulted, and influenced both designers and engineers in how they think about user experience.

Recognitions & Later Evolution

In 1994, Bill Gates awarded Cooper the inaugural Windows Pioneer Award to honor his contributions to Windows development. Visionary Award from SVForum.

In 2017, Cooper was inducted as a Fellow by the Computer History Museum, citing his invention of the visual development environment (Visual Basic) and foundational work in interaction design.

Over time, Cooper (the company) merged into Designit, part of Wipro Digital, for broader strategic design integration.

In recent years, Cooper has also taken a personal interest in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, drawing parallels between ethical design practices and land stewardship.

Historical Milestones & Context

To understand Cooper’s significance, it helps to place him in broader technological and design trends:

• The rise of personal computing: Cooper began his career during the microcomputer revolution. His early software for SSG came just as personal computers were migrating from hobbyist to business tools.

• Graphical interfaces and usability: As GUIs matured, the demand for better user-friendly software grew. Cooper’s work on VB and interface control architecture positioned him well to influence this shift.

• Emergence of UX / interaction design as discipline: In the 1990s and 2000s, software complexity grew. Cooper was among the first to treat interface design scientifically: not decoration, but core to product success. His methods (personas, goal-directed design) became industry staples.

• Bridging engineering and human factors: Cooper’s dual fluency in programming and psychology/design enabled him to communicate across disciplines. This bridging role remains rare yet critical in product development.

• Ethics, sustainability, and humane technology: Later in his life, Cooper’s turn toward ecological thinking suggests a widening of his design philosophy—from user experience to broader systems (society, environment).

These intersections magnify his influence—he was not just a designer-for-software, but a thinker about how design fits into human systems.

Legacy and Influence

Alan Cooper’s legacy is multi-layered:

• UX & interaction design canon: His books are considered foundational texts; many UX professionals globally cite About Face and The Inmates Are Running the Asylum as essential reading.

• Standardization of design tools: Personas and goal-directed design are now mainstream—they appear in product management, human-centered design curricula, and corporate practice.

• Shaping software behavior: His insistence that software respect human goals continues to influence how apps, operating systems, and services are built.

• Role model of designer-engineer hybrids: Cooper demonstrates that deep technical knowledge and human-centric design need not be mutually exclusive.

• Ethical and systemic thinking: His later engagement in sustainability and moral design continues to inspire conversations about technology’s role in society and ecology.

As software becomes ever more pervasive, the principles Cooper championed—clarity, empathy, direction, and human-centeredness—remain ever more relevant.

Personality and Talents

From his interviews and oral history, we can sketch aspects of Cooper’s character:

• Nonconformist, contrarian: From dropping out of high school, resisting conventional schooling, and rejecting simplistic labels, Cooper often preferred forging his own path.

• Persistent learner: He has acknowledged that early criticism and self-doubt pushed him to continuously improve.

• Empathetic and human-centered: His career reflects a consistent concern for human users’ cognitive limits and satisfaction.

• Synthesizer of disciplines: He merges architecture, programming, psychology, design, and ethics.

• Philosophical thinker: Cooper often frames design challenges in broader contexts (e.g. moral, ecological, structural).

• Quiet leadership: He leads not by showmanship but through ideas, mentorship, and sustained influence.

In his oral history, Cooper says that one of his biggest lessons is to “ignore people who tell you you can’t” and to forgive yourself when early efforts aren’t your best.

Famous Quotes of Alan Cooper

Here are select quotations that reflect his design philosophy, perspectives, and worldview:

“People will tell you you can’t do something, and you have to ignore them — because you can.”

“You have to forgive yourself as you're learning.”

“Interaction design isn’t merely a matter of aesthetic choice; rather, it is based on an understanding of users and cognitive principles.”

“If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likable person: respectful, generous, and helpful.”

“Computers no longer interface with humans — they interact, and the interaction will become progressively deeper, more subtle, and more crucial to our collective health & ultimate survival.” (The Inmates Are Running the Asylum)

“When I wrote my first book my agent said, ‘Alan, it’s your first book. It’s not your best book.’ That remark stuck with me: you have to allow for growth.”

These quotes showcase his humility, user focus, and belief in continual growth.

Lessons from Alan Cooper

What can designers, engineers, and innovators learn from Cooper’s life and work?

1. Start from human goals, not feature lists
   Cooper’s central insight is that software should help users achieve their goals, rather than burden them with unnecessary complexity.

2. Design is integral, not ornamental
   Good design is not decoration—it’s core to functionality, usability, and delight.

3. Prototype with personas and scenarios
   Using personas (archetypes) helps designers think concretely about real user needs, rather than relying on vague abstractions.

4. Iterate, forgive early mistakes
   Accept that early versions will be imperfect, and use feedback to refine toward clarity and simplicity.

5. Bridge disciplines
   Cooper’s success came from blending technical skill, design sensibility, and systems thinking. Cultivate fluency across domains.

6. Think ethically and systemically
   As software systems scale, designers must ask: What behaviors do we encourage? What are unintended consequences?

7. Stay humble and curious
   Cooper’s refusal to rest on past successes and his ongoing exploration of design, ecology, and ethics show the importance of lifelong curiosity.

Conclusion

Alan Cooper’s story is one of disruption: rejecting conventional paths, recombining disciplines, and elevating design from afterthought to foundation. As the “Father of Visual Basic,” he shaped early programming environments. As a design thinker, he transformed how we conceive software interfaces and user experience.

His legacy is visible in every app and service that uses personas, considers user flows, and strives to make complexity invisible. But perhaps more than technical legacy, Cooper’s insistence on treating people as central—designing software that respects them—is his most enduring gift.