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72nd out of 596 books
—
1,318 voters
The Design of Everyday Things
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 an...more
Paperback, 257 pages
Published
September 19th 2002
by Basic Books
(first published 1988)
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You can learn a lot about relationships from studying the principles of design.
Design is a noun and a verb. Here we’re thinking in terms of both, as in how to design a design. A design is an act of communication. Even the purely aesthetic design, in which appearance is all, is intended to evoke a response.
A functional design must convey the essence of the device’s operation to the user, or put another way: how form translates into function.
Design alone should convey how a thing is supposed to...more
Design is a noun and a verb. Here we’re thinking in terms of both, as in how to design a design. A design is an act of communication. Even the purely aesthetic design, in which appearance is all, is intended to evoke a response.
A functional design must convey the essence of the device’s operation to the user, or put another way: how form translates into function.
Design alone should convey how a thing is supposed to...more
Have you ever stood in front of a door, or a microwave, absolutely flummoxed, because the damned thing gave you no clue whatsoever how to open it. If so (even, I venture to think, if not), you will enjoy this book. In clear, coruscating prose he exposes the miserable flaws in the design of everyday objects which conspire to make our lives less convenient, more miserable, and sometimes more dangerous.
The book is not just an exposé of the appalling laziness and hostility to consumers that is commo...more
The book is not just an exposé of the appalling laziness and hostility to consumers that is commo...more
Excellent piece of non-fiction. This book is a prescribed textbook for a course on computer interface design that I'm doing.
Once I really started reading it, I almost couldn't put it down - it was so interesting that it almost read like fiction - none of the dry dust usually found in conventional textbooks.
Very well and humorously presented, and a must for engineers, designers, manufacturers and inventors everywhere!
Once I really started reading it, I almost couldn't put it down - it was so interesting that it almost read like fiction - none of the dry dust usually found in conventional textbooks.
Very well and humorously presented, and a must for engineers, designers, manufacturers and inventors everywhere!
The book introduces basic psychological concepts from areas such as cognitive psychology and ties them into usability and design.
Even though the book feels a bit outdated (they talk about rotary phones and old sewing machines), all the principles covered in the book still apply today.
Even though the book was written with things in mind that most of us won't necessarily use anymore (such as the problem of threading a projector), the principles are still useful to know when designing modern-day th...more
Even though the book feels a bit outdated (they talk about rotary phones and old sewing machines), all the principles covered in the book still apply today.
Even though the book was written with things in mind that most of us won't necessarily use anymore (such as the problem of threading a projector), the principles are still useful to know when designing modern-day th...more
After reading this you will never look at any man-made object the same. You will question everything from doors to tea kettles to the most sophisticated computer program. The next time you fumble with an answering machine, web page, or light switch you will think back to the lessons from this book. It is almost liberating once you can see beyond the design of everyday things.
I highly recommend this book for anyone. You absolutely must read it if you will ever be in a position to create something...more
I highly recommend this book for anyone. You absolutely must read it if you will ever be in a position to create something...more
Donald A. Norman thinks that cutting with scissors and operating the steering wheels of cars are both intuitive--meaning easy to learn. Where did he get this idea? He knows how to use a scissor and how to steer, so both objects must be easy to learn to use? Donald should be locked in a room with 20 or so 3 year olds who are learning to use scissors. He could teach them all in a jiffy--since it is so easy!
The truth is that learning to use a scissors is hard. First, it hurts the kid's hand becaus...more
The truth is that learning to use a scissors is hard. First, it hurts the kid's hand becaus...more
Feb 21, 2013
Kipriadi prawira
added it
A big part of what makes The Design of Everyday Things so enjoyable are the descriptions of flawed designs that Norman peppers throughout the book. These case studies serve to illustrate both how difficult it is to design something well, n how essential good design is to our lives. Norman draws on his own (often humorous) experiences with poorly designed objects, as well as anecdotes from colleagues n friends, n paints an all-too-familiar picture of design gone awry. If you’ve ever struggled to...more
This book has an important message: don't compromise usability for aesthetics' sake.
The message often gets lost along the way as Norman goes on tangents ranting about all the things that are bad about the design industry, all the many ways in products can be made hard to use. The message may be of consequence, but the tone is so grouchy and depressing that it detracts from the expression of this message. The book comes across not so much as a guide of how to design things well as a rant about al...more
The message often gets lost along the way as Norman goes on tangents ranting about all the things that are bad about the design industry, all the many ways in products can be made hard to use. The message may be of consequence, but the tone is so grouchy and depressing that it detracts from the expression of this message. The book comes across not so much as a guide of how to design things well as a rant about al...more
Ogni ingegnere, programmatore informatico, architetto, designer o progettista in genere dovrebbe tenere una copia de La caffettiera del masochista sulla scrivania ed usarla come memento ogniqualvolta si accinga a sviluppare un nuovo prodotto o sistema.
Sebbene sotto certi aspetti questo libro appaia un po' datato, visto che quando è stato scritto Internet, smartphone, tablet, motori di ricerca, navigatori satellitari e altre meraviglie tecnologiche erano ancora di là da venire, le considerazioni...more
Sebbene sotto certi aspetti questo libro appaia un po' datato, visto che quando è stato scritto Internet, smartphone, tablet, motori di ricerca, navigatori satellitari e altre meraviglie tecnologiche erano ancora di là da venire, le considerazioni...more
I got this as an audiobook, based on the fact that it falls within my usual taste for non fiction and because it's been referred to by many other books. In many ways, this is a classic book that inspired many people to think more seriously about design. At least, that's my impression, garnered from the unreasonably long introduction in which the author talks about how great and important his book is.
Confession time: I didn't finish the book. I got down to about the last hour and ten minutes and...more
Confession time: I didn't finish the book. I got down to about the last hour and ten minutes and...more
A classic for a reason. The examples are dated, but if you still remember rotary dial telephones (maybe over 30 years of age?) you'll be fine with them. Since Norman more or less predicts iPhones and iPads in this book, I'd love to read an update chapter from him in the next edition.
The principles are still accurate and useful, and Norman makes a solid case for why my inability to get through doorways safely is actually the fault of the manufacturers. People using products are busy, they have t...more
The principles are still accurate and useful, and Norman makes a solid case for why my inability to get through doorways safely is actually the fault of the manufacturers. People using products are busy, they have t...more
Apr 15, 2011
Nick Black
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Nick by:
Jeff Garzik
Shelves:
read-multiple-times
Jeff Garzik gave me a copy of this back when he was building the Linux network stack in Home Park; I'd seen it praised by a few other people by that time as well (via the GT newsgroups, most likely). I was underwhelmed -- there were a few good case analyses (the oven UI I recall being particularly effective), but very little usable, general principles came out of the read. I went back in 2006, thinking I'd perhaps missed something, but didn't find much more. then again, i'm probably not the targ...more
1 like · like · see review
This book was published over 20 years ago, back in 1988, but deals with usability issues that we are still grappling with today, and presents design guidelines that are still highly relevant now.
This book explores usability design from the everyday user's perspective and provides insight on why and how engineers often forget this when solving problems. Instead of simply espousing good design, it explains why some design decisions are bad, and how they can be fixed.
Some of the examples are dated...more
This book explores usability design from the everyday user's perspective and provides insight on why and how engineers often forget this when solving problems. Instead of simply espousing good design, it explains why some design decisions are bad, and how they can be fixed.
Some of the examples are dated...more
Oct 27, 2009
Dan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who designs things other people might use
Shelves:
usability
It's taken me a long time to get around to reading this book, but I'm glad I finally did it. I went to a conference at which Don Norman was speaking earlier this year (UXLondon, a web user experience event, June 2009) and that prompted me to finally pick up a copy and make a start. It's taken me a while to finish (too many other books competing for my attention!), but I got there in the end.
There are lots of nuggets of information and techniques for avoiding the creation of really bad, unusable...more
There are lots of nuggets of information and techniques for avoiding the creation of really bad, unusable...more
When you have trouble operating an ordinary household item, the problem may not be you; it may be that the item is badly designed. An interesting and logical look at how poor design complicates everything from doors to audiovisual equipment. While the examples are a little dated (most of us aren't concerned about how to program a VCR anymore, and the pocket computer that can remind you of events is now a reality), it's still very much a timely topic.
My one quibble: The author gives a lot of emph...more
My one quibble: The author gives a lot of emph...more
An analysis of usability and common-sense design (or lack thereof). A former usability expert at Apple, Norman is an academic specializing in cognitive engineering and user-centered design. This book, considered a classic, was written in 1988, and although technology has definitely improved since then, design and usability have not necessarily improved with it.
After explaining the basic ideas of action—goals + execution + what happens in the world + evaluation—Norman analyzes the difference bet...more
After explaining the basic ideas of action—goals + execution + what happens in the world + evaluation—Norman analyzes the difference bet...more
Norman provides a structure for the understanding and nomenclature for the communication of simplicities and difficulties in daily interactions. Norman indicates that his preferred title might have been "The Psychology of Everyday Things." I think that title would have more accurately conveyed the information contained. More than just understanding design, Norman explains how our minds organize and assimilate information. I feel I have a better understanding of myself now: why I do things, why c...more
Great book, but it's not a easy read. As a warning, the author, Donald Norman, places the coffeepot for masochists on the book cover. Donald Norman is a designer, notorious for creating difficult to open doors called "Norman Doors."
Accord to Norman, good design of everyday things requires things to be self-explanatory. True to form, Norman's book explains itself like the instructions for Wile E. Coyote's ACME kits.
As a "Norman Book," 'The Design of Everyday Things' is not your everyday book. Lik...more
Accord to Norman, good design of everyday things requires things to be self-explanatory. True to form, Norman's book explains itself like the instructions for Wile E. Coyote's ACME kits.
As a "Norman Book," 'The Design of Everyday Things' is not your everyday book. Lik...more
The book gives an analysis of what makes an object easy and enjoyable to use, full of entertaining examples and counterexamples, as well as guiding principles to use. It's a fun and relatively quick read, and it's already paid for itself - I immediately started applying things I learned here in my work.
That said, it starts to drag toward the end and could easily have been shorter by a quarter to a third, and a few pages about theories of mental function seem to serve no purpose other than for th...more
That said, it starts to drag toward the end and could easily have been shorter by a quarter to a third, and a few pages about theories of mental function seem to serve no purpose other than for th...more
I purchased this book as POET as did my good friend Bill Burke and it was a good discussion point. I prefer the POET title over DOET.
My first Don Norman book was his text book on Memory and Attention. While I was not a fan of cognition, I read that book. Don likes punny acronyms. I'm certain it pained him to change the title to Design at his publisher's recommendation. I don't own a paper copy of DOET, but I do own the Voyager Hypercard based CD version Defending Human Attributes with Turn Signa...more
My first Don Norman book was his text book on Memory and Attention. While I was not a fan of cognition, I read that book. Don likes punny acronyms. I'm certain it pained him to change the title to Design at his publisher's recommendation. I don't own a paper copy of DOET, but I do own the Voyager Hypercard based CD version Defending Human Attributes with Turn Signa...more
An interesting discussion of how people approach and use things around them and how to design these things to be more usable. The main points of the book can be summarized as:
1. Make things visible - signal to the user what the possible actions are, be explicit about the outcome of these actions, and let the user perceive the current state of the system,
2. Make the mapping between the controls and the controlled objects as explicit and natural as possible, and
3. Make it difficult to make errors...more
1. Make things visible - signal to the user what the possible actions are, be explicit about the outcome of these actions, and let the user perceive the current state of the system,
2. Make the mapping between the controls and the controlled objects as explicit and natural as possible, and
3. Make it difficult to make errors...more
This book made me realize how poorly designed products make it to market, and how some of them never seem to get improved. The book talked about the challenges that designers face when trying to create products and how feedback for a junk product often doesn't even make it back to the producer so there is little improvement in future iterations of products. While I now have a better grasp of what it takes to make good products, the biggest insight I got from it was that as consumers, we should d...more
You won't see the world in the same way again. The Design of Everyday Things doesn't only apply to designers. Everyone could benefit from reading this book. These are sound principles that apply to everyday problem solving. I also think anyone in a leadership or mentor role could benefit from this book. Step outside of your pigeonholes and EMPATHIZE with your clients, co-workers, employees etc. An important work in this increasingly selfish, short-term centered society.
I gave this 4 instead of 5...more
I gave this 4 instead of 5...more
This is a difficult book to evaluate and recommend to others. It's full of incredibly useful design concepts. But the concepts are abstract and may be difficult for some to apply to software design (e.g., affordances, conceptual models, mapping). It's written by one of the world authorities in usable design, Donald Norman. However, Norman's writing style alternates between the dry description of the concepts and the more interesting real-word examples of those concepts. But, most of the the real...more
This is the kind of book that makes you want to walk around and study the way in which the technological objects and systems of everyday life are designed. Even if you don't take that walk, Norman provides an abundance of examples and illustrations in his text to illuminate his points. The result is an engaging book that will afford you with an analytical vocabulary to dissect and probe everyday technologies in a more insightful and confident manner. For those that have more recently read Sunste...more
This is a fantastic book.
The first thing you'll be told, and come to understand, while reading The Design of Everyday Things is that much of the time when you use something wrong, it's not your fault. Those doors that you pulled when you should have pushed, that can opener that never works quite right, they weren't designed properly. As you get over your new found sense of self-satisfaction you'll be carefully guided through the process of how we interpret objects and assume how they're used, an...more
The first thing you'll be told, and come to understand, while reading The Design of Everyday Things is that much of the time when you use something wrong, it's not your fault. Those doors that you pulled when you should have pushed, that can opener that never works quite right, they weren't designed properly. As you get over your new found sense of self-satisfaction you'll be carefully guided through the process of how we interpret objects and assume how they're used, an...more
1 like · like · see review
This classic book on design is only slightly showing its age. Anyone who has ever gotten stuck in a doorway wondering whether to push or pull the door or who has accidentally hung up on someone on a multi-line phone knows the pain of bad design. But we've been conditioned to believe that if we can't figure out how to work something, it must be our fault. Donald Norman tells us that no, it is not our fault, that many everyday things are poorly designed and not made with the user in mind. Using co...more
This book was written in 1988 and it shows. Most of the concepts and examples shown in the book are either outdated (wheel phones, VCRs, Answering machines etc.) or already corrected (gas stove knobs etc.) We can realize that this book should have made a HUGE impact when it was released. However, it brings in yawn to read in 2012. Websites (and GNOME project) have taught me a lot about usability and today's usability needs have grown a lot compared to the time this book was written.
The author is...more
The author is...more
I read this book mainly because I kept seeing it mentioned in other books dealing with decision-making. Maybe partly because of the name I didn't have that much expectations about this one but then again since it was mentioned in many other books I was a bit curious about the content.
This book turned out to be a highly useful if you need to design anything other people will have to use whether it is something physical or something intangible like a software or a conceptual tool etc. It is also a...more
This book turned out to be a highly useful if you need to design anything other people will have to use whether it is something physical or something intangible like a software or a conceptual tool etc. It is also a...more
Donald A. Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things frequently pops up on lists of “must read” design books, but I’ve somehow managed to avoid reading it until now. I finally included the book in my last Amazon order, and now I wish I hadn’t waited so long to get my hands on a copy, because it really is a classic that deserves all the praise that’s been heaped on it.
The Design of Everyday Things was first published in 1988 under the title The Psychology of Everyday Things, and is aimed at anyone in...more
The Design of Everyday Things was first published in 1988 under the title The Psychology of Everyday Things, and is aimed at anyone in...more
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Donald Arthur Norman is a professor emeritus of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego and a Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University, where he also co-directs the dual degree MBA + Engineering degree program between the Kellogg school and Northwestern Engineering. Norman is on numerous company advisory boards, including the editorial board of Encyclopædia Bri...more
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“Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.”
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10 people liked it
“Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.”
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7 people liked it
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Thank you, Traveller, for recommending the book. It is a worthwhile read.
Mar 30, 2012 01:48pm
Thank you, Traveller, for recommending the book. It is a worthwhile read."
You'...more
updated Mar 30, 2012 02:59pm