The Design of Everyday Things

Book written by: Donald A. Norman

Comments: Jacob, Aaron

Summary:

This book deals with issues that designers and systems analysts deal with in a lot of projects that their company takes on. It talks about the fundamental principles of designing which consists of:

1. providing a good conceptual model for the users
2. making things visible

These are things that are important to think about so that the user is able to use a product with ease and can limit frustration they may have with the product. He focuses on a few main key points.

• Design should be something that makes it easy for a user to determine what actions are possible given an item.
• Make relevant parts visible! This way a better conceptual model is given to the user so that they will intuitively understand what actions will happen depending on what they press.
• It needs to be easy for someone to evaluate the system.
• By following natural mappings between interactions and actions it is easier for people to use an item. Natural mapping is something he considers to be key in design.
• Feedback: give each action an immediate and obvious effect.
• Avoid arbitrary actions and use affordances and constraints so that the user can not break whatever it is that you are designing.

Making things easier for a user is key, and designing things around possible human error can help with that. Norman mentions multiple scenarios where users had no idea how to interact with certain items. Some doors are difficult to understand how they open and he tells about a few of the designs that people struggle with. Some telephones are so confusing that many people do not use all of the functions on them and he goes into details about some phones he has dealt with, and some phones others had trouble with. Another scenario he describes are the different faucets, knobs and controls that are associated with sinks, showers, and refrigerators.

Discussion:

I agree that knowledge should be something that a designer puts into the world, and doesn't make users remember everything there is to know in order to operate their items. People in general already have multiple numbers and facts that they have to remember, it would benefit them if they didn't have to remember exactly how to use their sink every time they go to use it. I really enjoyed reading this book. It really brought multiple design flaws to mind when I otherwise would not have thought about it. I personally have a sink in my kitchen that turns the wrong way for cold water. I constantly have to remember that if I want to wash my dishes that I have to pull the knob the opposite way.

I think that designers can still read this and get a better idea of where they need to start with their design building. It definitely opened my eyes to things that I not have thought about when beginning to design something.