The Design of Everyday Things

I wonder if Donald Norman realized that some of the things he wrote about in this book would come to pass by the time we read it, and how he would react to their designs. For instance, his "pocket-size device" that keeps his calendar and reminders mentioned on page 74. He basically describes the calendar functionality of a PDA or an iPhone. Did he know going in that such things were going to exist within twenty years? Did the creators of such things read his book?

Anyway... The Design of Everyday Things focuses on (you guessed it) the design of everyday things. Doors, phones, and VCRs are main characters, with noteworthy performances by projectors, lights, digital watches, and radios in supporting roles. Basically, Norman looks at something we take for granted and breaks it down into its general level of FAIL based on a few main characteristics. He then encourages designers to consider these characteristics in their future work.

Characteristics to keep in mind:

• Constraints (physical, semantic, logical, cultural). Simply put, constraints refine design by limiting it. If you want to make your Lego policeman and bike, you don't put the wheel on the officer's head, make him face backwards, and put the red light on the front of the bike. Constraints are good! Don't fight them.
• Natural Mappings. If you have four stove burners and slap four dials on there to control them, make the layouts match! Otherwise people make mistakes and can't remember stuff. Which leads into...
• Keep Knowledge in the World. If it's natural to use, then people need not focus on memorizing how to operate something. I should be able to pick up a pencil and write without having to first memorize its instruction manual.
• Maintain Visibility. If you want to turn the water on in a sink, don't hide a foot pedal under the counter. Let the user (again, naturally!) see how to use things. Sometimes you must sacrifice elegance for simplicity.
• Give Feedback. If you double-click Internet Explorer and then nothing tells you that it's currently in the process of crashing (no hour glass, warning, etc.) then you waste valuable time and are generally confused. Then you call Geek Squad and ask them what's wrong with your CPU when you don't even know what that means (but you want to sound high-tech). Let users see that what they do has a direct impact on what they're using, and they will feel better about themselves

Now there are some things I didn't mention about designing for people (dummies), but only because I want to make a point of my own. If everything were designed as Norman wishes it to be designed, how would we ever have specialized skills and make advancements? He makes very good points, but if you boil something like this computer down to his ideal, then I wouldn't be able to get online and navigate to this website without Microsoft's Clippy by my side. Very frustrating! Some people don't need such a basic and natural design. Sometimes a little bit of elegance and required level of skill is a good thing. Boosh!