Nielsen Norman GroupEvidence-Based User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting
Over the past decade, usability improved by 6% per year. This is a faster rate than most other fields, but much slower than technology advances might have predicted.
Simple user testing with 5 participants, paper prototyping, and heuristic evaluation offer a cheap, fast, and early focus on usability, as well as many rounds of iterative design.
Although its individual features weren't new, the Mac offered integration, the expectation of a GUI, and interface consistency. Is the iPhone the Mac of mobile?
Started by Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen in 1998, the company is now 10 years old and has a long list of accomplishments and a much bigger team.
Since I started in 1983, the usability field has grown by 5,000%. It's a wonderful job - and still a promising career choice for new people.