Book Reading #1: Design of Everyday Things

Book Reaction:
All in all, The Design of Everyday Things was an eye opening book and presented some intriguing issues to consider for future design creation. Although I favored the book as a whole, there were numerous drawbacks that held it back due to it being outdated or a failure on the part of the author, Norman. One main idea of the book was to note that technology evolves at a much faster rate than humans can adapt. However, in the past two and a half decades, many of Normans example become irrelevant. On the other hand, Norman's concepts and ideas still persevere through the years. I will dissect each triumph and each inherent flaw of the book in the following subsections.

First, I will acknowledge some of the egregious nature of Norman's work and some potential improvements that would make his thesis much more profound. One thing I noticed throughout the book was that Norman seemed rather unorganized and would diverge on random tangents throughout his writing. His overarching theme was the idea that designs for any kind of technology needs to be easily used and understood by the layman. However, he would dedicate several sections and pages to seemingly irrelevant information, such as how the short and long term memory system works. Although it proved to be an interesting read, I recall thinking to myself, "how is this going to help me develop a more improved design?". If there had to be an underlying failure of this book, it was the lack of connection among his ideas. If somehow Norman was able to provide advice with how human memory works to apply to design creation, then his efforts would have been validated. Thus, if I were to give some helpful hints to Norman twenty four years, I would recommend drawing more inferences among his findings. Any implication linking with scattered ideas, such as POET, with design problems, would have an immense impact.

Second, I also had wished Norman went through the design process of a product to demonstrate a tangible example. He continually presents difficulties such as incorporating constraints, satisfying the manufacturer, accommodating large numbers of diverse people, etc. However, he never unveils how to link all of these aspects in moderation together under one roof. If somehow Norman connected how his memory techniques could be applied to a natural mapping, then his ideas would have much more profoundness. An insurmountable amount of the book could be truncated in lieu of providing this one design example. Although Norman does present a very brief example in the first chapter, it is far from complete. For instance, Norman could have chosen an already existing technology and delved into its design process, or could have created an arbitrary new piece of technology in which case he could have came up with varying types of scenarios. A single chapter over creating a design, receiving user feedback, improving visibility, bridging the gulf of evaluation, and manufacturer approval would have provided the reader with an easy to follow tangible example from start to finish. Norman could have taken this in any direction he wanted. Not only would it have been a gargantuan addition to the book, but also it would have increased interest to the reader on numerous levels. This single implementation would have assisted Norman in linking all of his ideas into a single output.

Overall, Norman did a fantastic job of persuading the reader to consistently evaluate the design of common appliances. He demonstrated the need to evaluate a device that is easy to use and consider how many iterations it went through it achieve its current state of perfection and simplicity. He noted that some ingenious designs fail not due to advance technology, but rather due to the lack of a natural mapping or inconsistent system and concept images. Throughout the book, Norman provides examples that illustrate and validate his point. Most of the technology he presented was archaic for the year of 2012, but the concepts that he was attempting to make stood out to the reader. One commendation that I would attribute to Norman would be his ability to predict the future. Several of his designs including the modern TV guide and the reading of digital books among other things were well documented. I was extremely impressed by Norman's ability to assess where the future was heading and not afraid to make extreme assumptions of future technology. I can count an abundant number of items in his book that turned out to be an everyday item for myself that did not exist twenty years ago.

Lastly, I would like to point out one major change in society that Norman, nor anyone else, could have predicted -- Google. Continuously through The Design of Everyday Things, Norman acknowledges the failure of manuals due to their vast size. However, I claim that this is completely irrelevant in modern society. If someone were to encounter a problem with a piece of technology in the late 1980's, they would have to search a user manual hours to find their query. With the aid of Google, one can simply access almost any kind of imaginable question about a piece of technology and receive an answer within a mere second. I would agree with the fact that the design of common appliances still needs to be simplistic for an average user, but it is less critical now than in Normans time. Google has transformed not only the way technology is used but also the way in which designers think about the design process itself.

In essence, Norman's book provided critical evaluation of the design process. The concepts that he presents are ubiquitous among virtually every object my body come in contact with today. Although I critiqued his paper from a modern day point of view, his writing has had a deep impact among designers and will continue far into the future beyond my years. I added several improvements that would support his underlying thesis throughout this blog. One had to read Norman's book with a grain of salt due to the fact that it was outdated in terms of the rate of evolving technology. However, I am still amazed at some of his predictions from that far in the past. In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed The Design of Everyday Things and I plan to keep some of his prime points in the back of my head as I enter a future in which simple design is mandatory for success.

Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things:
To open the book, Norman does a fantastic job of describing the necessity of intelligent design to accommodate unintelligent users. His example of how to design a door that users should know whether to push or pull without external acknowledgement illustrated his point perfectly. I had never considered the usage of door handles, but they are cleverly designed to nudge users in the right direction such as a push bar with half of it missing from the hinge side. A few of his examples, such as the phone were archaic, but still communicated his idea of the importance of intentional design in common items. Although many items have to traverse through around six iterations to become perfect, designers can use test subjects to hopefully cut this number down. 

Norman also touched upon several more important topics such as concept design, mapping, and feedback. Concept design is critical because if the system performs as I imagine it, usage becomes second nature, unlike the refrigeration example. Mapping tends to be more complex due to the increased function-ability of technology. However, if mapping approaches a 1:1 ratio (natural mapping) of buttons to features, then usage becomes much more natural, as in the example of car buttons. Lastly, feedback has an immense impact due to the user knowledge of knowing whether they are using a certain piece of technology correctly or not. The sooner the feedback is delivered to the use, the more effective the design will be. However, this becomes difficult in some scenarios due to the vast number of technological features which creates the 'U' parabola of complexity and technology.

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Actions:
Norman then transitions to analyzing how humans interpret the world by suggesting that they not blame themselves when it is the error of the design. I am in slight disagreement with this point due to the fact that design of common appliances should be made easy as possible, but humans need some common sense when using devices. With the plethora of technological advances, humans should become adept to intuitively understanding new pieces of equipment adeptly. This is in conjunction with the feedback systems of designing everyday things. If humans are given correct feedback early on, then blame is irrelevant, and the correct technological usage can be applied. 

Next, Norman delves into the topic of how people do things by forming the goal, forming the intention, specifying an action, executing the action, perceiving the state of the world, interpreting the sate of the world, and evaluating the outcome. This forms one for goals, three for execution, and three for evaluation. This model is immensely helpful, but Norman fails on describing how this can be applied to designing an object. If a more in depth connection was made, this would have been one of the most beneficial chapters. However, Norman does note that if these are applied in conjunction with visibility, a good conceptual model, natural mappings, and continuous feedback, then designs can be improved. Some examples, such as VCR usage, are noted, but they are less than perfect analogies and extremely archaic.

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World:
In the introduction of the chapter, Norman notes that information is in world, great precision is required, natural constraints are present, and cultural constraints are present. Each topic is then delved into further.The first, information is in the world, is quite obvious. Thus, much explanation is not needed, but he did present an example involving identifying the correct penny layout which was a valid example. Next, he notes that great precision is not required which is counter intuitive from the engineering perspective. I thought this section is an essential trait to keep in mind when designing products due to the fact that a high level view is necessary, rather than consuming oneself with the details. Lastly, he notes the power of constraints. While physical constraints are lucid to understand, cultural constraints, such as language barriers, are less obvious to a designer. Norman implies that identifying all constraints upfront is difficult, but a connoisseur designer always takes the constraints into effect and uses them in benevolent ways. 

Norman then proceeds to analyze the human memory system. He notes the structure of memory, such that people only can remember around seven numbers for a limited time, memory for arbitrary things, meaningful relationships, and memory through explanation. Although I enjoyed learning about the way memory functions, I found this completely irrelevant to the thesis of his book. Norman made no connection with how this knowledge can be applied, and thus, it seems rather irrelevant. I will note that Norman favors knowledge in the world rather than in the head, which is completely obvious, but an instructional reminder to keep in the back of one's head when designing a new object.

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do:
The first portion of the chapter delves into constraints that are either physical (interlocking of Lego pieces), semantic (rider faces forward), cultural (police lights), or logical (all pieces used) in nature. The simple example of assembling a Lego police motorcycle was extremely intuitive to explain the potential constraints that will arise and how they can be useful. Norman did a fantastic job with this section of the chapter. Next, Norman discusses issues with switches. The problem is that switches are the same, but he presents a unique approach to solving this problem by re-designing the switch itself, the orientation of the switch, or the layout to correspond to their destination in the room. While this was an abnormal way of thinking, I found it very stimulating, and opened up new possibilities that challenge the status quo.

Although visibility is a crucial design component of everyday things, Norman hammers the point to the reader bu re-emphasizing its importance. One of the more insightful aspects of the chapter was his description of feedback through abstract mediums, such as sound. I recently read a book of how fa-breeze almost failed as a product because it failed to deliver a feedback of correct usage such as toothpaste or shampoo foaming. These utilities don't add any extra effect, but they do indicate to the user proper usage. Thus, Norman does a solid job of bringing up visibility and feedback  in design throughout not only the chapter, but the book as well.

Chapter 5: To Err is Human: 
To begin, the author discusses types of slips such as capture errors, description errors, data-driven errors, associative activation errors, loss of activation errors, and mode errors. The main concept behind delineating these types of unintentionally and accidental behavior is to provide the reader with a plethora of problems to consider when designing a new object. In essence, it shows that it is almost virtually impossible to assess all of the errors that can arise, but some precautions can assuage the improper use of technology. Next, the chapter progresses by discussing human thought patterns and memory. To me, this portion of the chapter was an interesting read, but rather uncorrelated to designing everyday things. Although knowing how human memory functions is critical, there are other important factors that Norman could have considered to help designers improve their works of technology. However, the tic-tac-toe example which was set up analogous to picking three numbers adding to fifteen was a genius example. This cleverly illustrated the way in which the mind views different patterns based on given input.

Next, the idea of the forcing function proved very interesting. Although this can be a powerful technique, users will almost inevitably find a way around to  counter the intended effect. A great example in the book was the locking the keys in the car (although my car  has a push start and makes it impossible to lock the keys in the car). Many of the examples were outdated, but had useful concepts attached to them. Lastly, the main take away from the chapter is to put knowledge in the world, not on an instructional manual and to use constraints at any given chance, such as physical, logical, semantic, or cultural ones.

Chapter 6: The Design Challenge:
First, Norman discusses key design concepts such detailing how the free market can worsen a design. Although this seems counter intuitive, his argument is structured well while noting how phones used to be designed so well with the monopoly of Bell labs. Also, Norman brings up the famous technological evolution of keyboards and typewriters. Although the Dvorak keyboard is faster than qwerty, there would be too much overhead to change. His final comment of knowing when to stop adding features hits home well and is important for designers to consider whether to evolve a product or not. Norman did predict the feasibility of changing keyboards electronically for certain people which happened to be exactly true.

Norman progress by noting three difficulties of designers which are putting aesthetics first, designers are not typical users, and lastly, they must please their clients. The highlight of these sections was the fact that Norman recognized that end users are typically not clients. Designers have no incentive to please the people that are actually using their product. Instead, they must appease the distributors who usually only care about looks and cost. However, Norman offers no advice on how to counter this issue. Norman then touches on flexibility. While no one object will suit everyone, the ideal approach is to design a product such as a computer chair that can be adjusted to accommodate people in their own unique ways. I found this the best methodology to consider for the design process throughout the entire book.

One association of this chapter that I considered an illuminating novelty was the notation that sleek and beautiful designs typically win prizes, but in reality, are not elegant in terms of usability. Norman also notes two fallacies are creeping featurism and worshiping false images. These two gargantuan issues pose more problems to the designer. In my opinion, the worshiping of false images is pervasive in modern society. People are fooled by appearances on numerous occasions and don't know if they actually like a product until they have been using it for at least thirty days. The only way around this obstacle is to provide customers with money back guarantees to make them feel comfortable before they purchase something. In most cases, customers should always be cautious before handing over money for an alien device.

Chapter 7: User-Centered Design:
In the initial part of the chapter, Norman spends the first several pages summarizing the book to chapter seven. He reminds the read of notions such as visibility, mapping, mental reminders, etc. Although it seemed redundant, it is probably a useful writing technique considering his description of long and short term memory in an earlier chapter. However, I did find the issue of any automation is usually better than no automation interesting. His example is the word processing spell checker which provides immediate spelling feedback and provides people with more time to focus on the important aspects of writing a paper, such as novel ideas, instead of the minor nuances. I did appreciate the fact that Norman noted there are negative effects of automation, such as over-automation. Although his examples were weak, it is vital that an author consider all sides of an argument.

Norman then presents the when all else fails case, standardize. I consider this one of the hidden treasures of the book. He does take into account the difficulty of standardization - too early and potential innovations are cut off, and too late can cause a standardization failure. A fantastic example is the notion of telling time on a base 10 system. Although there would be tremendous overhead in this scheme, it would assuage the time telling process as a whole. He disowns the idea, but I find it rather intriguing. Norman also discusses the effects of writing style. I never thought about how the speed at which we write has an inverse correlation with the perceived diction. I noticed that my speaking habits tend to be unstructured and rambling at times while my writing displays a more uniform and articulate method of communication.