As the title suggests, this is a post about my impressions of the book The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman.
Chapter by Chapter Reaction Breakdown:
- "The Psychopathology of Everyday Things": Chapter one dealt mainly with bad design and the keys to good design. The bad designs included most door opening mechanisms (I finally know why I struggle to open some doors!), a refrigerator thermostat, and an office telephone. I enjoyed learning the reasons that some designs were bad, but what was more interesting was the way Norman categorized the necessities of good design into visibility - the need for the mental map to match the design map by providing good clues to the operation of the object, mapping - how physical buttons or switches interact with the object's operations, and feedback - how the object tells the user an action has occurred. These three design aspects are very general, but are great things to remember when designing anything or evaluating a design.
- “The Psychology of Everyday Actions”: Chapter two dealt mainly with the false blame people put on themselves and the seven stages of human action. The former is a bit eye opening because I have definitely had my moments of just not being able to figure out the operations of a ‘simple’ object and realizing that most (well, probably only some) of those objects had bad or even terrible designs is reassuring. The latter was interesting in that it put words to my actions, whether conscious or unconscious, that led to completing a formulated goal.
- “Knowledge in the Head and in the World”: Chapter three dealt mainly with the distributed and imprecise knowledge of humans and how it is stored both in the brain and in the world and the natural mapping of objects that comes out of the relationship between memory and environmental clues. Learning about the general inner workings of memory is very cool and helps me understand (and even exploit) how the brain works and how knowledge is stored. Natural mapping seems like a good way for designers of an object into instantly piecing together the visible design aspects of an object and learning its use based on the relationship between memory of other, similar objects and clues from the world.
- “Knowing What to Do”: Chapter four dealt mainly with object constraints and how they relate to everyday objects. Object constraints really put into words what I know about design and that good designs take into account physical, cultural, and semantic constraints. It also made me realize that, subconsciously, I knew these things about everyday objects. Applying and evaluating these constraints on objects really hit home because I have encountered these good designs, but never thought about what made them so good.
- “To Err is Human”: Chapter five dealt mainly with human error and the memory trade-offs that our brains make in order to store and associate massive amounts of data. I liked that Norman categorized the types of mistakes I make, but I did not like how many mistakes there were that I make all the time. It is nice because now, whenever I encounter a problem, I can realize what I am doing and try to fix the erroneous behavior as fast as possible, instead of perpetuating the problem and potentially waste a large amount of time and cause embarrassment.
- “The Design Challenge”: Chapter six dealt mainly with the design and pitfalls of the keyboard and faucet and how they came to be as well as the fact that most designers are not users, nor are some designers' clients and that that plays a very important roll in the initial failures of many technologies. After reading this chapter, I realized that Norman has so far been very good at predicting future technology (or is today's technology a direct result of his predictions?)
- “The Design Challenge”: Chapter seven dealt mainly with the seven principles for transforming difficult tasks into simple ones and how intended usability affects design. This being the final, summation chapter, it was very interesting to see Norman giving readers a sort of checklist to follow for good design and how to get there. It was also nice to read his final thoughts on the matter and gently urge us to support good design.
Overall Reaction:
Overall, this book was an eye-opening endeavor into not only the design aspects of everyday things, but also the reasons behind those aspects, namely the way the human mind works. This book was an excellent and easy read that presented ideas in a clear, coherent manner, but also sounded very "80's" (which makes sense given the fact that the book was published in 1988). The book was very sequential in it's findings, only going back to previous designs as a reference or base line when presenting new facts, which makes it easier to follow and proves invaluable to the understanding of some of the concepts.
The most chapter for me was chapter three, because it opened my eyes and made me realize that my brain works a certain way (or can be thought of to work a certain way) that logically makes sense and I can see it in my everyday life choices and memory recollections. The aggregated data sort of 'theory' (it's not actually called the aggregated data theory) really put in to words exactly what I was thinking as I was reading how the brain stored pictures and events. The fact that outliers become more important (equal in importance to a conglomeration of the mundane and therefore individually more important) is almost, in and of itself, the reason that many humans seek new adventures and experiences and why we remember the outlier memories more readily than the everyday.
I also enjoyed chapter two because it gave me hope for myself and relief from the self-placed burden of stupidity I have when trying (and failing miserably) to use certain everyday objects. I would not go so far as to place myself in the 'learned helplessness' category because if something needs to be done, I'll do it, but there are a few things (mostly ambiguous doors and long rows of unlabeled light switches) I tend to avoid and/or evaluate very carefully before proceeding to interact with them when going through life.
I found chapter six to be interesting because it talked about how the modern-day keyboard came about (which, of all the designs talked about in the book, is the most used by me) and keyboard shortcuts, which I absolutely could not be productive without (okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but I do love shortcuts). It also bad-mouthed Apple's Macintosh a bit, which is refreshing to see because he speaks objectively instead of spinning everything in Apple's favor (Apple's extraordinary marketing team of the past ~20+ years clearly did not exist at the time).
In conclusion, this book was an extremely informative and really made me aware of the way my mind works in combination with the subtle design enhancements that seemingly magically allow me to 'work' an object almost immediately. It also serves as a good tool to make the reader think about everyday items in the same way as the author and take their findings and apply it to their future designing and buying habits. 9/10, would read again.
The most chapter for me was chapter three, because it opened my eyes and made me realize that my brain works a certain way (or can be thought of to work a certain way) that logically makes sense and I can see it in my everyday life choices and memory recollections. The aggregated data sort of 'theory' (it's not actually called the aggregated data theory) really put in to words exactly what I was thinking as I was reading how the brain stored pictures and events. The fact that outliers become more important (equal in importance to a conglomeration of the mundane and therefore individually more important) is almost, in and of itself, the reason that many humans seek new adventures and experiences and why we remember the outlier memories more readily than the everyday.
I also enjoyed chapter two because it gave me hope for myself and relief from the self-placed burden of stupidity I have when trying (and failing miserably) to use certain everyday objects. I would not go so far as to place myself in the 'learned helplessness' category because if something needs to be done, I'll do it, but there are a few things (mostly ambiguous doors and long rows of unlabeled light switches) I tend to avoid and/or evaluate very carefully before proceeding to interact with them when going through life.
I found chapter six to be interesting because it talked about how the modern-day keyboard came about (which, of all the designs talked about in the book, is the most used by me) and keyboard shortcuts, which I absolutely could not be productive without (okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but I do love shortcuts). It also bad-mouthed Apple's Macintosh a bit, which is refreshing to see because he speaks objectively instead of spinning everything in Apple's favor (Apple's extraordinary marketing team of the past ~20+ years clearly did not exist at the time).
In conclusion, this book was an extremely informative and really made me aware of the way my mind works in combination with the subtle design enhancements that seemingly magically allow me to 'work' an object almost immediately. It also serves as a good tool to make the reader think about everyday items in the same way as the author and take their findings and apply it to their future designing and buying habits. 9/10, would read again.
5 Good Designs:
- Bike Pedal System:
- Visibility – High visibility as the pedals and gears are uncovered and clearly connect in a meaningful way. The pedals also turn in the same direction as the wheels.
- Natural Mapping – 1-to-1 mapping of the pedals.
- Feedback – Great feedback. If you're doing it right, the bike will move in the direction pedaled (assuming a simple, 1-gear bike, not pictured)
- Microwave Controls:
- Visibility – Low visibility as to how it works, but the descriptions on the buttons easily clue a user in to what it does.
- Natural Mapping – Great mapping as each button matches to a function or number (i.e. only does one action) and the higher functions are mapped directly to individual buttons as well.
- Feedback – Amazing feedback, both visually through the small LED display and the light that a running microwave emits during use and auditory through the sound of the microwave coming on.
- Pipe Valve:
- Visibility – High visibility from the way the valve handle is positioned. Users can easily infer that in order for something to flow everything must line up.
- Natural Mapping – Great, 1-to-1 mapping.
- Feedback – Somewhat limited unless there is a sound in the pipe when a fluid or gas passes through the valve or pipe line.
- Classroom Projector Controls:
- Visibility – While all the buttons are the same, square buttons, the visibility is still somewhat high due to the descriptions/symbols located directly on the buttons.
- Natural Mapping – Great 1-to-1 mapping for all the functions.
- Feedback – Good feedback from physically seeing the projector screen lower, hearing/seeing the projector come on, having the laptop screen show on the projector, etc.
- Computer Speaker Controls:
- Visibility – While not being able to see how a speaker works, the knob/button descriptions provide great clues as to the operation of it.
- Natural Mapping – Great 1-to-1 mapping for all controls.
- Feedback – Great feedback from changing sounds (assuming the speaker is connected to a device that is playing a sound) and an LED that lights up when the speaker is turned on.
5 Bad Designs:
- Trash Can on Texas A&M Campus:
- Visibility – Low visibility. From the book and life, we know that horizontal bars are meant to be pushed, but this bar is meant to be pulled. From the rounded bottom of the 'door', we can also assume that it holds something that it has to have for operation (which it does not). Basic case of system image - conceptual model mismatch.
- Natural Mapping – Being the tact that it is a sort of door, the control is mapped 1-to-1.
- Feedback – Great feedback in that a user can tell when the door is open or closed by whether or not you can peer into the trash or not.
- USB Flash Drive:
- Visibility – High visibility, because the user knows that the male end of the USB goes into the female end in order to work. Problem is, there is no clear indication of how the USB should be oriented in order to plug it in (i.e. which side goes up).
- Natural Mapping – 1-to-1 mapping as there is only one way to plug it in, but you get it wrong EVERY time.
- Feedback – It either goes in or it does not, so physical feedback. Some USB's have an LED light built in for when they are connected or in use.
- Computer Monitor Controls:
- Visibility – Uniform row of buttons that are either not clearly marked or not marked at all, so visibility is very low (for my personal monitor, not pictured, the power button is the ONLY button labeled).
- Natural Mapping – Pretty bad. Other than the power button, most buttons are not 1-to-1 mapped and the system is often quite convoluted and non-intuitive with all the work being done in a menu that is difficult to navigate.
- Feedback – The monitor's on-screen menu will reflect any changes, or the monitor will shut off or turn on, so it does well in this department.
- Digital Camera:
- Visibility – Very low visibility. There are all kinds of knobs, sliders, and buttons that have very little visible description and will leave users baffled as to what each one does (although it looks like there was a physical constraint that required such small/odd controls).
- Natural Mapping – Mostly 1-to-1 mapping of controls, so it does well in this department.
- Feedback – Decent feedback as digital cameras usually have a small screen on the back, so all or most of the functions will be displayed on screen.
- Mattel's Intellivision Game Console Controller:
- Visibility – Low visibility, because regardless of control scheme for a game, a user has no idea what an intuitive control scheme would be because it is just a number pad and spin wheel.
- Natural Mapping – Assuming a game uses a reasonable control scheme, the mapping would be ~ 1-to-1, so optimal.
- Feedback – Good feedback, because a television set would provide on-screen feedback assuming the button/wheel is mapped to a control.
