Book Reading 1 - The Design of Everyday Things Chapter 1
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
The author explains that things need to be practically made in order for people to be able to use them. He gives many examples of almost unusable technology because they are too complicated (often referring to the telephone). He discusses that there needs to be both a good conceptual model and good visibility of what each button and lever's function is, a natural mapping of things. Also feedback is important in order to make sure one's actions are intended.
Discussion:
Norman had a very clear distaste for the way some things are designed in this world, namely phones. Obviously he was not well aware of cellphones at this time because much of what he mentions it seems has been cleared up by cellphones such as a screen showing you exactly what you are doing. But these too seem to have become congested with useless material that one hardly ever uses. I like his thought of applying common sense to design to make it simple for the user.
I agree with the fact that cellphones have cleared up some (if not all) of the issues presented in the paper. Cell phones have reached the point where a single phone can seem to have 7 screens. Buttons have become obsolete and you touch exactly what you want to use or slide it out of the way. And if people say they have too many functions on their phone, then delete the app if you are not using it.
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