I presume you're being down-voted for the use of the word "nipple," by people who don't know that this is an axiom that has been used in the design industry for a very long time.

It's a fun little meme, but it's not all that accurate. Something like half of mothers report latching or other nipple-baby interface problems in some studies [0]. What's more, suckling is a hardwired reflex, not something that's intuited, so the quote also misunderstands the nature of intuition.

FWIW I also used to use that quote, until I had a child and saw firsthand [well, second-hand as it was my wife doing the work] how much effort breastfeeding a newborn could take; I don't really blame anyone for quoting it (it's pithy after all).

Surprisingly good further discussion on the UX SE [1].

0: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/09/23/2253491...

1: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/5150/is-it-true-that-...

Because not every baby figures it out the first time does not mean it is not intuitive for the other babies that do figure it out immediately.

It's become more of a meme to be needlessly contrarian, and ignore the fact that billions of babies actually do know this interface intuitively.

Also many times they “know” what to do but can’t quite succeed for whatever reason. Or perhaps the milk is not ready.

Ironically in your haste to be contrarian to me, you failed to read the statistics. Billions of babies do know intuitively and billions more don’t. The meme is actually pretty harmful for new parents, who may think their child must be defective if they can’t figure out “the only intuitive interface”, when the reality is that it’s extremely common.

But beyond that (and this is covered in the stack overflow thread) is that it confuses intuition and reflex. Reflex is hard-wired and the stimulus often doesn’t even hit the brain - think a doctor tapping a kneecap. Suckling is like this, which is why a baby will root if you stroke its cheek - obviously there’s no nipple on the finger, yet the baby’s reflex kicks in nonetheless.

Intuition/intuitive on the other hand, in the context of UI design, means the user can without thinking or with very little conscious thought understand how to use the interface.

> What's more, suckling is a hardwired reflex, not something that's intuited

The fact that suckling is a hardwired reflex is what makes using the nipple intuitive. You use it by doing the same thing you think you should do.

> The fact that suckling is a hardwired reflex is what makes using the nipple intuitive. You use it by doing the same thing you think you should do.

In this case it gets used automatically without choice or thought. Anything shoved into a baby's mouth triggers it. It's not intuition, just reflex. Intuition implies understanding.

It's the difference between "I know that what this is for and how to use it" vs "I have no idea what this is and I have no control over doing it, this is just something that is happening to me"

> Intuition implies understanding.

No, if anything it's the opposite. If you understand something, you'll find it easy to use. Intuition is what you rely on in the absence of understanding.

I'd say intuition is understanding in the absence of instruction or prior experience. Something intuitive should be something you find easy to use.

Nope, I downvoted because I don't like it when HN users quote platitudes with no additional context or elaboration to shut down a discussion which is more interesting than the one-line platitude.

It's like quoting Einstein's bit about infinite stupidity, or the Dunning Kruger effect. It's dismissive without being insightful.

I like the platitude but I upvoted you anyway because I agree with you that it shouldn’t be used to curtail discussion.

The original "3-D user-friendly input device" ;)