Microblog on The Design of Everday Things

Chapter 1

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Comments


Evin Schuchardt
Zack Henkel

Reference Information
The Design of Everyday Things
Norman, Donald.
New York: Basic, 2002.

Summary
This first chapter of The Design of Everyday Things introduces the concept of bad design. Norman explains that there is a psychology to everyday items and how users interact with them. He does so by giving the reader examples in which simple to use tools and objects become overly complicated by the ill-design of the object. Norman explains the thought process of an end user in putting together how an item works (or is supposed to work) and how sometimes the object in question does not deliver. An example that was pervasive through this chapter was the simple telephone which we use everyday. The amount of functions that can be carried out by the modern telephone do not reflect properly in the design of most modern telephones. Norman explains how mapping and functions-to-buttons ratio greatly help the user understand the functionality of an object. He also introduces the paradox of technology. The growing amount of technological advancement and functions sometimes can not be confined to the space or dimensions provided to provide a one-to-one ratio for buttons and functions. This leads to the complexity of the object becoming unusable or unusable due to the lack of functions. There is a fine line between functionality and design, a line that if crossed one too many times, may doom to failure an idea forever.

Poor bathroom design

Discussion
I completely agree with Norman's view on design and design flaws. I too have suffered from poor designs which makes it frustrating to use. An example is the software developed in-house at the company I work for. All the information and data I need is available to me but the problem is the menus and sub menus I have to click and back out from to get to the information. The opening of many windows to get to a single piece of information and the constant going back and forth is frustrating. It is CLEAR to me why this article relates to CHI and why we have to be conscious of our design.