Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans--from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools--must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed.


Los Angeles Times
...makes a strong case for the needlessness of badly conceived and badly designed everyday objects...[T]his book may herald the beginning of a change in user habits and expectations, a change that manufacturers would be obliged to respond to. Button pushers of the world, unite.


Time magazine
"Provocative."


Tom Peters
"This book is a joy--fun and of utmost importance."


Review
"This book is a joy -- fun and of the utmost importance." -- Tom Peters.


Book Description
Donald Norman's best-selling plea for user-friendly design, with more than 175,000 copies sold to date, is now a Basic paperback. First, businesses discovered quality as a key competitive edge; next came service. Now, Donald A. Norman, former Director of the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of California, reveals how smart design is the new competitive frontier. The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how--and why--some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.


Book Info
Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans--from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools--must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. Softcover.


From the Publisher
A popular, entertaining, and insightful analysis of why some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them. "This book is a joy -- fun and of the utmost importance." -- Tom Peters.

B & W photographs and illustrations throughout. Previously published as "The Psychology of Everyday Things" (ISBN: 0465067093).

ANNOTATION

This book is part polemic, part science, part serious and part fun. It examines the effect of poor design and equipment failure on human behavior. Intended for a general audience, it covers user-centered design, the psychopathology of everyday things and the psychology of everyday actions.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

First business discovered quality as a key competitive edge; next came service. Now, Donald A. Norman reveals how smart design is the new competitive frontier. The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how and why some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.

SYNOPSIS

The Psychology of Everyday Action

There are seven stages of action - one for goals, three for execution, and three for evaluation. Forming the goalForming the intentionSpecifying an actionExecuting the actionPerceiving the state of the worldInterpreting the state of the worldEvaluating the outcome These relate to the following principles of good design: Visibility: By looking, the user can tell the state of the device and the alternatives for action.A good conceptual model: The designer provides a good conceptual model for the user, with consistency in the presentation of operations and results and a coherent, consistent system image.Good mappings: It is possible to determine the relationships between actions and results, between the controls and their effects, and between the system state and what is visible.Feedback: The user receives full and continuous feedback about the results of actions Knowledge in the Head and in the World

Not all knowledge required for precise behavior has to be in the head. It can be distributed--partly in the head, partly in the world, and partly in the constraints of the world. Precise behavior can emerge from imprecise knowledge for four reasons. Information is in the world.Great precision is not requiredNatural constraints are presentCultural constraints are present When knowledge is maintained in the head, it can be enhanced in two ways: through providing meaningful relationships (that is, when the rules make sense in the context of other things we know), or through explanation (when we understand the underlying model.)

The tradeoff betweenknowledge in the world and in the head

Retrievability

Knowledge in the world: Retrievable whenever visible or audibleKnowledge in the head: Not readily retrievable. Requires memory search or reminding Learning

Knowledge in the world: Learning not required. Interpretation substitutes for learning. How easy it is to interpret information in the world depends upon how well it exploits natural mappings and constraints. Knowledge in the head: Requires learning, which can be considerable. Learning is made easier if there is meaning of structure to the material (or if there is a good mental model. Efficiency of Use

Knowledge in the world: Tends to be slowed up by the need to find and interpret the external informationKnowledge in the head: Can be very efficient. Ease of use at first encounter

Knowledge in the world: HighKnowledge in the head: Low Aesthetics

Knowledge in the world: Can be unaesthetic and inelegant, especially if there is a need to maintain a lot of information. This can lead to clutter. In the end, aesthetic appeal depends upon the skill of the designerKnowledge in the head: Nothing need be visible, which gives more freedom to the designer, which in turn can lead to better aesthetics. Knowing What to Do

When we encounter a novel object, how can we tell what to do with it? Either we have dealt with something similar in the past and transfer old knowledge to the new object, or we obtain instruction. In these cases, the information we need is in the head. Another approach is to use information in the world, particularly if the design of the new object has presented us with information that can be interpreted.

Using Constraints

Physical constraints: Physical limitations constrain possible operations. Physical constraints are made more effective and useful if they are easy to see and interpret, for then the set of actions is restricted before anything has been done.Semantic constraints: Semantic constraints rely upon the meaning of the situation to control the set of possible actions. They rely upon our knowledge of the situation and the world.Cultural constraints: Some constraints rely upon accepted cultural conventions, even if they do not affect the physical or semantic operation of the device.Logical constraints: Natural mappings work by providing logical constraints. Visibility and Feedback

Make relevant parts visible and give each action an immediate and obvious effect. Some suggestions include making visible the invisible and using sound for feedback.

To Err is Human

Types of Slips

Capture errors: The capture error appears whenever two different action sequences have their initial stages in common, with one sequence being unfamiliar and the other being well practiced.Description errors: Description errors usually result in performing the correction action on the wrong object.Data-Driven errors: Automatic actions are data-driven--triggered by the arrival of the sensory data. But sometimes data-drive activities can intrude into an ongoing action sequence, causing behavior that was not intended.Associative activation errors: If external data can sometimes trigger actions, so, too, can internal thoughts and associations.Loss of activation errors: One of the more common slips is simply forgetting to do something.Mode errors: Mode errors occur when devices have different modes of operation, and the action appropriate for one mode has different meanings in other modes. Detecting Slips

In all situations I have examined the error correction mechanism seems to start at the lowest possible level and slowly works its way higher. Whether this is universally true I do not know, but the hypothesis warrants further examination.

The Design Challenge

Much good design evolves: the design is tested, problem areas are discovered and modified, and then it is continually retested and remodified until time, energy, and resources run out. This natural design process is characteristic of products built by craftspeople, especially folk objects. With handmade objects such as rugs, pottery, hand tools, or furniture, each new object can be modified slightly from the previous one, eliminating small problems, making small improvements, or testing new ideas. over time, this process results in functional, aesthetically pleasing objects. . . . The technical term for this is hill-climbing, analogous to climbing a hill in the dark. Move your foot in one direction. If it is downhill, try another direction. If the direction is uphill, take one step. Keep doing this until you have reached a point where all steps would be downhill; then you are at the top of the hill.

Why designers go astray

Putting aesthetics firstDesigners are not typical usersThe designers clients may not be usersCreeping featurism: There are two paths to treating featurism. One is avoidance, or at the least, great restraint. The second path is organization. Organize, modularize, use the strategy of divide and conquer. Suppose we take each set of features and hide them away in separate locations, perhaps with dividing barriers between sets.The worshipping of false images Two modes of computer usage

Most computer systems offer command mode, third-person interactions. To use the computer, you type commands to it, using a special command language that you have to learn. Some computer systems offer direct manipulation, first-person interactions. Both forms of interaction are needed. Third-person interaction is well suited for situations in which the job is laborious or repetitive, as well as those in which you can trust the system to do the job for you properly. But if the job is critical, novel, or ill-specified, or if you do not yet know exactly what is to be done, the you need direct, first-person interaction.

User-Centered Design