Book Reading #1: The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman was certainly an entertaining book to read and one that I was skeptical at first was relevant to my education or this class, but I find that it is very applicable tomy studies. Norman presents some rash observations about the devices and objects that surround our everyday lives, and I found it entertaining to read about them and understand what he was referring to, even 30 years later. It was amusing to see complaints about light switches that he expressed and still today they seem unusable when there is a need for a row of 6 or more. (As a side note, why not just create a box that extends from the wall a little bit at a slant. If the bottom was pulled out an inch and the top flush to the wall, then you could place the switches mapped like the room and it would be obvious which switches go to which lights). Some parts of the book seemed hard to get through because he was reiterating his point multiple times, maybe out of frustration. Others because he was talking to psychologists over designers. In my opinion, he should have written two separate books, one for psychologists to understand and debate and the other for designers, explaining things to consider within the design process.

Norman's use of everyday items and tasks to make his points was brilliant. Many of his chosen devices are timeless and will always be a part of our lives. Others, such as the telephone, have developed a lot since he wrote the book and will continue to develop past the point of his ideas in the future.

Chapter 1

Norman has a knack for pointing out bad design and identifying why these designs are so unusable. As I was reading, I constantly was looking around at the items that surrounded me, trying to find an example of bad design. Norman makes you think, and he forced me to recall a few "embarrasing moments" where I had a run-in with a poorly designed item. I can remember one time trying to get out of my car and finding that the key was stuck in the ignition. Ten minutes later I realized that the car wasn't in park. It is fairly obvious that the car needs to be in park for you to remove the key, but the car made no indication to help me out.

Chapter 2

I've never really enjoyed psychology or thought it was a valid science because I consider it to be more of a guessing game that changes with time.  Generalizing the actions of people seems to impose a certain limitation on their abilities.  But Norman covers a different aspect of psychology.  He seems to review a basic psychology of thought that is not only applicable to humans, but anything that gives the appearance of thinking (like a robot or program).  We all go through a process to make an action and he clearly explains the process we go about.  This will be helpful because I think it will be important to always consider each step as I design something someone will use.

Chapter 3

Many people do not think about where information they use throughout the day comes from. Norman outlines the different types of information we use and where it comes from. After reading the chapter, I found myself anaylzing different actions of mine throughout the day, including using a door handle.  I constantly wondered whether the information I needed to perform these tasks came from my head or the world.  Where was I recalling the required information from.  I appreciated Norman's detail in this chapter when he was discussing the capacity of the human brain because I believe it will greatly help in my future as a Computer Engineer.

Chapter 4

This was certainly an interesting chapter to read because of the number of examples provided.  I enjoyed learning about the different constraints that our environment (cultural, logical, etc) places on us in our capacity to perform certain actions.  It was interesting to see how people understand the world around them because of different experiences or cultures that they live in.  This will certainly be useful when creating products for people to use.  I know this chapter helped me understand what I can expect people to know and understand instinctively.  This will not only help me not exceed those bounds, but also use them to make products and services better.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 was probably my least favorite.  This chapter seemed mostly geared towards psychologists, but I was glad to see that he made some good design recommendations at the end.  I think Norman also made a good point that error should be expected and that no amount of "reading or help" materials will prevent people from doing something they shouldn't.  This provides a valuable lesson that designers should always assume the user will attempt to do exactly what they shouldn't and adding physical constratins or forcing functions can keep people from ruining the device.

Chapter 6

A long chapter, but definitely an interesting one.  At times it seemed too loaded of different information that was unrelated but I was still able to gain a good bit of knowledge.  I enjoyed Norman's explanation of the design process towards the beginning of the chapter.  He talked about how products that have a high turnover rate rarely consider the user in their new designs.  I would hope that my design team would always base new products off the old one while condiering the users' comments.

Good Design

Picture 1: My waterbottle

In the figure, you can see the spout for my Camelbak water bottle.  The spout sports some pretty good design that was easily implemented.  It does take some knowledge to be stored in the head, but I can't really think of another way for it to work.  The spout only allows water through with a change in pressure (sucking or squeezing the bottle) but still has a stop to keep water from transferring.  The good design aspect can be seen in the small black "lip" that lines up with the white piece.  When they line up, water can flow freely.  When they do not line up, there is an interrupt in the visual and tangible flow that indicates no water can flow.  This is helpful because it can be seen from a ways away (or felt in the dark) that it is either open or closed.

Picture 2: Pedestrian Cross Request

In the picture you can see a picture of a button used to cross the street.  The pedestrian can walk up to the intersection and press the button so the computer system controlling the light knows they are there.  This button indicates a great aspect of feedback.  When the button is pressed, a light in the middle lights up and a loud "beep" indicates that the button has been pressed.  Pushing the button multiple times will not affect the functionality which is desireable in such a context.  No human user can break the system by doing anything with the button.  Also, the button just affords a push.  The shiny metal protruding from a pole begs for a push and makes it clear how to interact with it.

Picture 3: Slanted parking spaces

Slanted parking spaces provide a great design for many reasons.  First, they save space and allow more cars to park by making the rows narrower.  Second, when designed correctly, they clearly indicate which direction cars should drive in each row.  This, however, poses a problem, because it does require some knowledge in the head.  However, it can be fairly easy to assume that knowledge by looking at the spaces.

Picture 4: My watch

This is my watch to the right which I consider to be a fairly good design.  Norman complained about his watch and its lack of thought with double-use buttons, but it seems after some time, Timex has perfected their watches.  With a need to hold any button for a permanent change in functionality or time difference, they have protected certain functions of the watch.

Picture 5: Nintendo64

Everyone from my generation has experience the Nintendo64 and loved every moment of it.  From its simplistic usage to straightforward setup, it certainly is an example of good design and mapping.  There are only two buttons on the top, both clearly explained, and a large hole on top, just the right size for a cartridge.  No matter how or when the cartridge was inserted, the game would work and nothing would break.  It was the perfect console for gamers and children alike.

Bad Design

Picture 1: My bathroom faucet

The faucet shown is from my bathroom at home.  It clearly indicates which one is hot and cold with colors, but it does not clearly indicate which way to turn them.  Most people understand the direction you should turn the knobs to have them open or close, but witch the possiblity of an exception it is hard to instinctively know how to interact with the sink.

Picture 2: My living-room light

As you can see from the picture, the light switch for our living room light is inconveniently placed.  The picture is taken from the kitchen and it would make a lot of sense to have the light switch there, where someone may be exiting the kitchen.  Instead it is by the back door, away from the other two "main" entrances to the living room.

Picture 3: My car's accessory compartment

The picture here shows my accessory compartment in my car.  A simple box that hold things should be better designed because I honestly think a mechanical engineer just wanted to have fun with the button here.  The button to the left opens and closes the compartment mechanically, but when the compartment is open, it seems that it should be closed by pulling it closed.  The feedback provided by the button also gives no indication that it should also be used to close it.  Many times I find myself manually closing the compartment.

Picture 4: My Mini-fridge

As you can see in this picture of my mini-fridge, you cannot distinguish which side to open the refrigerator from.  There is no visible handle or finger hold.  Just above the door is a place to insert your fingers to pull the door open, but it is placed on both sides, making it still impossible to distinguish sides.  The mapping is truly horrible on this device.

Picture 5: My Receiver Remote

The problem with this remote is simple, but annoying.  The remote was created for the audio/video receiver and can be used as such, but the power button doesn't always turn off the receiver the first time.  Most of the time it is necessary to push the "receiver" button first before pressing the power button.  It took me months to figure this out, during which time I would have to turn the receiver on and off manually.