Book Reading #1: Design of Everyday Things (Microblog)

Reference Information
Title: Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald Norman
Publisher: Basic Books (2002)


Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things
Summary
The primary point being addressed by the author in this chapter is the frustration that come along with operating devices, especially highly sophisticated technological gadgets. The author starts off by giving some examples of bad designs and how they confuse and frustrate people. For example, the glass doors that give no clue to the user if they need to be pulled or pushed, confusion caused by functions like hold and automatic callback on modern telephones and the German slide projector that had just one button to execute all the functions.
Affordances are perceived and actual properties of the thing that suggest how it can be used. If used well, affordances make the device self intuitive to use. When simple things need pictures, labels or instructions, the design has failed. Author claims that users find it easy to use devices if one control is mapped to one function i.e. 1 to 1 mapping. Confusion arises if there is many-to-one or one-to-many mapping between controls and the functions.
To make a device understandable and usable, the designer must provide a good conceptual model, a proper feedback to the user and try to make things as visible as possible. The mental model of a device is formed largely by interpreting its perceived actions and its visible structure. Good design indeed takes care, planning and thought. It takes conscious attention to the needs of the user.

Discussion
When I started reading the first few pages of the book, I thought that the author was over-stressing the idea of how bad design can cause confusion. For example, all of us, at some point have experienced problems in opening glass doors, however, I never thought as if it was a big deal. As author moves on to provide more interesting examples, I did realize that simple small things can be really important for the product's success and usability. As we all know - what made iPods so successful was their user interface. I think reading about good designs is really important before we actually get into designing interfaces, that way, we can learn from previously made mistakes and come up with innovative solutions.