The Design of Everyday Things

by Don Norman

Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door.

The fault, argues this ingenious -- even liberating -- book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization.

The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time.

The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how -- and why -- some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.

Genres: Design, Psychology, Nonfiction, Art

75 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2021

Reviews

[Jenna H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended me this book during spring break in college. I have no idea why we were talking about nonfiction books when we should have been partying on a yacht, but I digress. I found a lot of the anecdotes fascinating, especially the discussion about what the default scrolling direction should be for touch screen devices. It's also fun to notice many of the examples in this book in real life e.g. Norman doors.

I'm known in my social circle as the person who knows way too much random shit. The reason why is because I'm always _reading_ random shit like this book. If you'd like to develop a deep collection of fun facts to share with people to fill any awkward silences, I'd start here.

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, let me first caveat this before I start. I watched the author of this book - who is an older white man - dismiss younger women, and younger people of color online multiple times so this isn’t going to be a book that I use with my audience as an educator of predominantly young minority design students

This man is seen as a diety in our industry and all I’ve seen in engaging with people is watching him dismiss people who don’t agree with his cis white male point of view.

that reason alone would be a enough of a reason but the book is old and there are better more up to date resources available for all the topics discussed in this book that don’t feed into the authors ego and don’t give dated references that seek woefully out of date.

I picked up a class this semester while a teacher is handling a family emergency and she uses this book extensively as her sole textbook which is why I had to revisit this - and did so incredibly begrudgingly.

Thankful for the reminder of how bad this is I guess.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
A solid book on HCI basics. Norman’s core argument is that design succeeds or fails on two things: 1/ can users see what actions are possible, and 2/ can they understand how to carry them out. When those cues are missing, people blame themselves for mistakes that are really design failures. In fact, how can we design tools and systems that forgive (inevitable) human error? That framing makes small annoyances ( like confusing doors) connect to larger failures like plane crashes, infrastructure breakdowns, social systems, etc. Weak feedback, missing signals, unclear safeguards, etc - the same design flaws scale up. The takeaway for me is that “human error” is rarely just human. It’s often the system failing to guide, protect, or adapt; good design should expect mistakes and make room for recovery.

[minhhai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book on graphical and functional product design, covering the key components of design with an emphasis on human-centered design principles.

The book lays out necessary considerations for user-oriented, human-centric designs, such as, afforances, signifiers and constraints, illustrated by many embarrassing products that lack one or more components. The author then explains the fundamentals of human conception: how we perceive and react to the signals from the outside world (products); and the categories of errors. Based on these human factors, he argues for design processes that take them into account. The book ends with discussion on the constraints in product design in real, business world.

The concepts and methods discussed in the book are essential for product designers who need a hollistic approach in design, considering all functionalities, ease of use, potential errors, budget and schedule. However, while providing a more general approach than its previous edition (limited to technical aspects), this edition sounds egoistic, is quite verbose, especially the chapter on design thinking.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being someone in a related field, this book elaborated important concepts in a direct way so that everyone can use and benefit the principles mentioned in the book to their daily work and lives. The examples used in this book are quite classic, which provides a clear and illustrative way of explaining the design heuristics, processes and things to watch for. The first time I heard about the author (Don Norman) was in one of my undergraduate classes, when I learned about Heuristic Evaluation. This is a good read - not only for designers, engineers or people who work in related field. The human-centric perspective and values should be appleid in all of our daily lives. I hope one day, Don's dream (described in the final section of the book) would come true.

[Valeria Avramenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of design principles for people who never heard of design or want to try themselves in this field and see if it's for them. Good reminder from the book – human mistake is almost never solely human, we need to ask more "why did this happen?" questions to get to the bottom of it and see if the design can be improved (we can't expect people to behave like machines, but we can make machines expect people behaving imperfectly). It still felt though that the book is not sure who its target audience is – some stuff were all over the place, some for users, some for manufacturers, some for specific industries, things repeating between sections.

[Aitana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see why this is considered a staple book in the UX field. Lots of simple, real-world examples of product and interaction design that can be universally applicable to one's current work. Towards the end, Norman talked about his attempts to make an interactive e-book complete with videos and footnote explanations from Don Norman himself. As someone who has heard him talk in person, I was especially endeared by the idea of a mini Don Norman materializing inside of my book like Clippy. I don't quite think the e-book has reached the peak of its user experience design, and I wouldn't mind if some future version of the product brought that idea back.

[Brody Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book, I enjoyed it very much, there was lots of ideas that Scott explained very well. It overall gave me a different look on the design process and how to think about not just new devices but everyday thing. From doors to kitchen sinks to even keyboards. My only complaint was I felt the book was too repetitive and would have loved a more varieties of explanations and points.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good insights into designing things to make their ease of use invisible. Important considerations for feedback and lack thereof with consumers to product designers when middlemen are involved. Highlights importance of vertical integration.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

There may be better books on design thinking now, but I still think of this book and its anecdote about aircraft controls every time I see a car dashboard with touch screen buttons with no tactile feedback.

Still betting that those stupid touch screens eventually die.

[Olivia Nuttall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very psychology heavy. A bit hard to continue reading at times. It was good though as it complemented my UX course nicely. I learnt about avoidances, signifiers and the difference between mistakes and slips.

[Elijah Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible insight into the power of good design and what defines it. Essential reading for anyone seeking to design things for people; the lessons here transcend time, culture, and change, just as good design does.

[Alexandra O'Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was required reading for one of my classes in college. Normally I hate required reading, but I couldn’t put this down!

I found it super interesting and informative. It gave me new ways to think about the world around me, which is all I ask for when reading!

[Sam Crognale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish it had just been about designing teapots

[Shubhi Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for every designer

[camille! · Rating 4 out of 5]

this man loves to talk about doors

[Ravi Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being very thin on images and graphics, for a design book that is, this is still a solid work that makes you see everyday things in a different light.

[Kristian Ablan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a 1988 book, which was updated in 2013. The first chapters are still relevant since they touch on the fundamentals of design. But the latter pages on the future of design show the book’s age.

[Maithili · Rating 5 out of 5]

good as a gift.

excellent book cover design!