The Design of Everyday Things (book)

Pure gold for designers in any field. As a videogame designer I found this increadibly insightful, more so than than the vast majority of books devoted to game design.

Full of memorable examples this is simply a great read for anyone who's suffed bad design and blamed themself.

I wrote this review as a partial reply to the reviewers slamming this book for being out-of-date, or not focused on computer software design for useability.

These criticisms are simply unfair. The book IS 15 years old, so one must expect that many the examples are old. And it never claimed to be solely about useability. I believe these criticisms are from people who somehow expected a cookbook of good design.

But saying that the ideas are out of date is ridiculous. What, exactly, has changed in the design of doors in the last 15 years? Stoves? Telephones?

The bottom line is that if you read this book you will gain the ability to analyze the design of anything, including software. It is still, outdated examples and all, the most readable text that discusses why people have problems operating things and how to go about systematically trying to fix those problems.

If you are unwilling to learn about simple concepts such as affordances, you are simply not serious about design, UI or otherwise.

It was a good and easy book to read, it helps you look at things in a different perspective.

This is not specifically a computer interface design book, but it is still invaluable for anyone who designs and develops computer software. This book looks at usability through the design of "everyday things" such as washing machines, telephones, doors, automobiles, calculators, light switches, and to some extent, computers. Rather than just dryly examining the operation of these devices and what is right and wrong with them, the author looks at the human brain and how it works to help get answers to why some devices fail to be usable by normal human beings. The author mentions that rote learning is the bane of modern living - take "ALT CTL DELETE" for example. This is why even learning your ABC's has turned into learning a tune, since people seek structure in learning. People who use computers or cook by rote could not be good at these tasks. When something goes wrong they have no frame of reference to judge their actions. Thus, designers should tap into the way that human memory works to come up with good designs. For example, the four controls on a stovetop are laid out in the same configuration as the burners they control, and people use them without thinking. If the configuration was laid out some other way, there would be 24 possible combinations of these four controls, and rote memory would come into play. This is an example of using natural mapping. Memory is also aided by understanding. It turns out that a particular auto allows the sunroof to be closed without the ignition through a strange sequencing of controls that make no sense and is thus hard to remember. Once you realize that this was not intended by the manufacturer but instead is an accident of design that engages the electrical system without the ignition and that all of the electric features work including the sunroof, you remember the sequence by understanding what is really being accomplished.
This book is full of observations and examples such as this, is fun to read, and most of all it gets you thinking about how you think. I highly recommend this book to anyone who must develop user interfaces so that they have more insight into what makes something easy and natural to use.

The purpose of this book is to draw attention to a growing problem in our increasingly high-tech society, which is the failure of designers and engineers to consider the usability/functionality of the products they create. After all, if the most brilliant device in the world is impossible to figure out, then it's also the most useless device in the world. The book was written with a clear, fundamental goal and Don Norman nailed it on the head. Excellent work.

In addition to writing a fascinating and educational book on a vital topic, Norman also managed to present his material in an extremely entertaining mode. His great writing style accompanies a wealth of real-world examples and detailed illustrations to present the reader with a great read. This book is a must for designers, manufacturers, sellers and consumers alike.