The Design Of Everyday Things
Donald A. Norman
by Donald A. Norman
257 pages Reissue edition (March 1990)
Currency/Doubleday; ISBN: 0385267746
"Norman makes a strong case for the needlessness of badly conceived and badly designed everyday objects…This book may herald the beginning of a change in user habits and expectations, a change that manufacturers would be obliged to respond to. Button pushers of the world, unite."
Here is a book that highlights the divide that exists between the designer and users of products in a practical and informative way. It goes even a step further in transferring a wealth of knowledge to designers regarding pitfalls that could be avoided in designing for the users of their products.
I personally enjoyed the way that the author used examples of the design of everyday objects to transfer a vast amount of knowledge on designing pitfalls, how users perceive products, and how to design more user centred products.
Topics that are covered in this book include:
- Principles of design for understandability and usability
- The nature of human thought and explanation
- How people do things
- How to apply constraints to everyday objects
- Visibility and feedback
- User errors and types of errors
- Why designers go astray
- The complexity of the design process
- User centred design
and many more interesting topics that I would encourage you to look into.
I believe that whether you are a tester wanting more information regarding usability testing, or a designer desiring to have more information regarding design pitfalls and to increase your knowledge to improve your designs, then this book is for you.
(Whatever you do, do not give this book to your clients! This may cause a revolution in their expectations.)
Cornè
Boshoff
Wayne Mallinson