In this chapter the author explores the world everyday items giving examples of good and bad design. Importance is placed on the ideas of: using affordances for direction, creating correct conceptual models, making functionality visible, mapping principals, the need for feedback and the paradox of technology. An argument that despite increasing options and capabilities, good design can make complexity manageable.
This chapter brought forward some of the more interesting design decisions which cause people difficulty everyday. The idea of a conceptual model seems most important to me, as a user will often predict a result before taking an action. This chapter also raises the question in my mind of the trade off between an easy to use design versus a design which requires training but increases efficiency in comparison to the simpler design.
Chapter 2
Summary
The author explores the psychology around the use of everyday items and the consequences and responsibilities this creates for designers. Users often attribute the malfunction of a device to themselves, even if the event is a product of poor design or purely coincidental. Eventually, a person will build up a learned helplessness towards the device or technologies like the device and refuse to utilize these systems. Users often justify outcomes by personal experiences, as illustrated by the author’s story of driving two hours in the wrong direction. The author also explored the seven stages of action: Forming Goal, Forming Intention, Specifying Action, Executing Action, Perceiving State of World, Interpreting State of the world, evaluating the outcome. Additionally, the idea of mapping mental state to physical state was emphasized. Finally, a design process aided by the seven stages of action was provided.
Discussion
The author’s comments concerning learned helplessness are very true with older users of technology. I have often seen older individuals approach technology with fear because of their learned helplessness. I think there should be some thought given to the user’s perception of their own ability to damage an expensive piece of technology. I feel like many users are reluctant because they don’t want to cause damage. The seven states of action are very interesting to me, as they correspond somewhat to the way in which most robots are programmed to function today. This text has made me realize the origins of those techniques is in fact human. I also really enjoyed the author capturing the timelessness of presentation givers struggling to get their material to show. The technology has changed, but the frustration hasn’t.
Chapter 3
Summary
People keep knowledge either in the world or in memory. Often times long term memory only contains the “how” of something, and we must rely on external cues to push us in the right direction. Memory is often categorized into being arbitrary, for meaningful relationships, or through explanations. Using constraints, we can help shape what choices are recalled in a specific situation. Natural mappings are also of great help in preventing the need for memory.
Discussion
I find the author’s discussion of memory to be very true, at least what I have experienced. I find it funny that the author describes a device he wants, essentially a smartphone, and predicts its arrival within 10 years (1998). Though the PDA was around in this time period it seems that the pocket computer really has just begun to become common place with smartphone markets having expansive growth.
Chapter 4
Summary
When users encounter a novel item, they must either apply past knowledge, obtain new knowledge from the environment, or work within constraints to solve the operation of the item. Physical, semantic, cultural, and logical constraints are all pivotal in creating a successful design. Feedback, especially visual feedback, is essential in good design.
Discussion
The author makes some good points about incorporating feedback into everyday designs. Visual and auditory feedback are both excellent ways of keeping the user’s mental state consistent with the state of the system. I particularly liked the author’s suggestion of food with machine language on it for automated cooking.
Chapter 5
Summary
Errors are part of everyday human life. Designers should work to steer users in the correct direction, alert them of possible errors, and make errors which have occurred easier to recover from. Errors come in the form of slips and mistakes. Forcing functions should be used sparingly and appropriately.
Discussion
This chapter does a nice job of discussing errors as being part of the user experience. It points out that errors are still part of design, and aren’t just an exit with a random message. I also enjoyed the examination of social and economic pressure and its ties to errors.
Chapter 6
Summary
Natural design is difficult, as the next generation product is often already in development before feedback can be received. There is also pressure to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. Designers face many challenges: seeking awards,not being typical users and pleasing their clients. All users are unique. Designers must battle featureism and worshipping of false images.
Discussion
As usual it is interesting to see the author’s desires have already become a reality in today’s world. I found it interesting that he longed for a keyboard with modifiable keys and a calendar which would sync with his office. The invisibility of the computer is important and should be a design principal that is closely followed.
Chapter 7
Summary
This chapter reiterates the mantra of previous chapters: illustrate the mental model, give feedback, consider mappings, enable constraints, be highly visible. The chapter also highlights ideas for making system difficult to use for an intended purpose.
Discussion
Repeat. Repeat. But it was interesting to see the "bad" designs presented for the sake of purposefully making the user's life difficult. As always Norman points out many everyday things that I had not previously considered the design of.
I feel you can still have an easy to use design while increasing efficiency. At my place of employment, we have software made in-house and are trained in it. There are some functions we use rarely use but when it comes time to actually use them, we were trained so long ago, we don't remember how to get to it because it is not intuitive and hidden within menus within menus. If it was more intuitive, we wouldn't have to re-train to use one function every blue moon.
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