The Design Of Everyday Things

Description of the article « The Design Of Everyday Things »

Most of us have pushed a door that should have been pulled and blamed ourselves for it. The Design of Everyday Things argues that the fault usually lies with the design, and explains how to fix it.

What you'll learn

Don Norman, a cognitive scientist and former Apple vice president, introduces ideas UX designers still use every day. Affordances and signifiers show people what an object can do. Mapping and feedback connect actions to results. Constraints make errors hard to commit. He also explains why people make mistakes and how a design can prevent them or make them easy to recover from.

The revised and expanded edition updates many examples and adds chapters on design thinking and on design in business.

Who it's for

It sits at the top of most UX reading lists, and it works just as well for non-designers who want to understand why some products feel effortless and others don't. Many examples are physical objects such as doors, stoves and light switches, but the principles carry over directly to screens.

Norman writes as a researcher, so parts are denser than a typical design book. Take it slowly and you'll look at doors, apps and dashboards differently afterwards.