The design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things By Donald Norman

This is an interesting book that deals with the constant battle between users and designers of products. There seems to be a distinct difference between and designers. Designers are concerned with adding as many features as possible but they sometimes forget that not all users are technically inclined. On the other hand a user just wants products that work intuitively and correctly.

There are several different themes to consider when designing a product that are sometimes overlooked or not figured into a products complexity.

• Conceptual Model - This is basically a model of how a product is supposed to perform. This conceptual model can be given to a user or created by a user from past experiences. For example i have seen and used a pencil before so if i encounter another pencil i can use the mental model i have from previous experiences to know how to use the new pencil. Also if i walk up to a door and i see a sign that says push i know that i must push to open the door from the conceptual model printed on the door.
  
• Affordances - Which is the ability of a product to allow a user to perform an action. For example a chair is for sitting but it can't be used to type a paper.
• Constraints - This genre has to do with the circumstances that a product cannot be used. There are several different types of constarints.

1. Cultural - Different cultures have dealt with different items so not every culture can be compatible with every product. For example my grandmother can barely use a computer, that's not because she is a dumb person, it's because in her culture they did not have computers thus no conceptual model to figure out how to use one.
2. Logical - This is a very relative term because something that is logical to me may not be for someone else. Some products are so complex or misleading that it is sometimes hard for a user to determine what they should do next in order to achieve a desired result.
3. Physical - Not all items can perform the way they are intend in every environment. For example you can't use a computer underwater because it would malfunction.
4. Semantic - Some products can be so highly technical that someone without explicit knowledge may not be able to use the product.

• Mappings - This helps to increase a products usefulness through intuition. For example on a stove the knobs are in a line and not setup the in a square formation like the burners. Therefore a user must check the little pictures to see if they turned on the correct burner or not instead of looking at a spatial representation and choosing the correct burner intuitively.
• Feedback - This is a big problem with some of the products out today. Feedback is the ability of a product to inform a user on how they are interacting with the product. For example moving a mouse across the screen in easy because the cursor gives the user visual feedback of where the mouse is located in a virtual plane. What if the cursor disapeared? then how would a user know what they are clicking?
• Visibility - This helps to further increase a products intuitiveness by giving visual signals of a products use. If a door says push you wouldn't pull because the door wouldn't open.
• Slips - Not every product works correctly all the time. Sometimes they malfunction and the user should not be so quick to blame themselves because sometimes stuff goes wrong for no apparent reason.
• Causality - actions beget actions. This is a realtionship between two events or where the second is ultimately cause by the first.

This was a very interesting book to see how some people interact with everyday items. As a technically inclined person i don't usually have problems with technical things. I do admit however that some products are just difficult to use or hard to use and must be learned because they are not intuitive what so ever.