By Donald A. Norman
The Design of Everyday
Things is written by Donald Arthur Norman. It was first published by Basic Books
in 1988.
About the Author
Donald Norman, a
cognitive psychologist whose work revolves largely around user-centered design,
has been helmed by Business Week as on of “the world's most influential
designers". He has made great contributions to the area human centered
design, and has worked at places like Apple Computer and Hewlett-Packard. He
has also taught at various universities worldwide.
Summary
The Design of Everyday
Things (originally published as The Psychology Of Everyday Things) uses
psychology to explain the good and bad design in everyday objects. It also suggests
design solutions and principles to address the unintentional problems created
with bad design.
Norman
addresses, in chapter one, the mystery of hard-to-use doors. Something as
simple as a door that is poorly designed, can confuse and frustrate users. Here
he introduces the term “affordances” as
a means to indicate whether you push or pull on a door, for example a
horizontal bar affords (is for) pushing against as it is just natural to do so.
He suggests making buttons and switches more visible (1 button for more
function, reduce hidden functions) and natural mapping between controls and their
functions that leave no room for ambiguity. He stresses the principle of
feedback to help users know that a result is accomplished. One example is the
beeps we hear when we dial the telephone, which helps us to know that we have
successfully dialed the number on our phones.
Norman
also explains how our lives are filled with misconceptions. As humans we tend
to make causal inferences. When B occurs after A, and C after B, we tend to
rationalize it as A having caused B, which in turn caused C to occur, even if
it were just coincidental. It is interesting to note too that we tend to blame
our misfortunate on our environment, but when it comes to other people, we tend
to blame their personalities instead. Norman cautions us to not confuse and
assign blame to ourselves when it may actually be the fault of a bad design. If
a design has to be labeled, then it may not be working as well as it should.
Here he suggests using the seven stages of action as design aids to help create
more user-friendly design.
Constraints
also limit and control how we use objects. If something were designed to only
work in one way, in the way that it should, this cuts down user failure (and
frustration) to zero. For example, by mapping out light switches to the floor
plan of the room and incorporating that into the design of the switch, we can
eliminate the annoying event where we flip switches on and off in attempt to
figure out which switches work certain lights.
Norman
ends the book with suggestions and ideas to guide the design of everyday things
such as simplifying task structures, providing mental aids/labels, utilizing
natural mappings, designing constraints and when all else fails, standardizing
systems.
The book is a light read
and balanced out with images and diagrams that help support the text. I feel
that a complete beginner to psychology can pick up this book and easily
understand and relate to the concepts that Norman espouses, and not feel
intimidated by excessive jargon. The many case studies and funny anecdotes
mentioned also help illustrate his points clearly.
The only drawback may be
that the case studies may seem dated, although some may still apply in this day
and age, like confusing doors. I feel that perhaps a newer edition could
include updated cases studies such as bad design found in websites and newer
technology like smartphones and applications.
Although this book was
published 24 years ago, I feel it still has much relevance to the design
industry today. From designing a chair, to a poster layout or even game level
design, by understanding how people use objects, designers can avoid common or
unintentional design errors that may hinder the use of flow of the product.
I can see how the understanding
of user centered design will help greatly in the creation of graphic user
interfaces in games. Paying attention to feedback, button placement
(visibility) and the principle of natural mapping, for example, can ensure and
even greatly enhance playability and user experience. Imagine hunting through a
game to find the pause button, or having to click through 20 menus to gain
access to a certain inventory. That would most certainly turn off players from
continuing a game.
Perhaps in this time and age,
much of bad design may have already been addressed, however there is and will
continue to be lapses which result in bad design. Reading The Design of
Everyday Things helps to make us more aware of our shortcomings, which in turn
helps us in making informed decisions to create better products.
I would highly recommend The Design of Everyday
Things to designers and people interested in the psychology and science of user
design.
(Done for a class book report! )
