Problems with visual design can turn users off so quickly that they never discover all the smart choices you made with navigation or interaction design.

If you need to take a step back from day-to-day operations and plot out the long-term direction of your user experience strategy, consultants can give you a perspective you can't get on your own.

A good designer can create a design that accommodates all the constraints and still delivers an elegant, satisfying experience to the user. A great designer can go beyond this and create a design that demonstrates that some of those constraints weren’t really there to begin with.

User-centered design means understanding what your users need, how they think, and how they behave - and incorporating that understanding into every aspect of your process.

Giving something your time isn't the same as giving it your attention.

I'm not sure that you can say definitively that some roles are better filled by consultants, but I would say that some projects are better handled by consultants.

But despite the universality of URLs, we often forget that they're not just a handy way to address network resources. They're also valuable communication tools.