Donald Arthur Norman is the author of the idea of human-centered design, a specialist in the field of engineering and cognitive science. In his thoughts on user experience, he tries to marry common sense and design so that there are more things in the world that do not cause people suffering with their inconvenience.
We’ll give you some examples from his book to show you what’s going on here and offer some reasons for reading.
Let’s start with the basics about human-centered design. “Good design starts with an understanding of psychology and technology. Good design requires good communication, especially machine-to-human communication that lets humans know what actions are possible, what the machine is currently doing, and what it is about to do. Communication is especially important when something goes wrong. It’s quite easy to design things that work smoothly and harmoniously as long as you do it right.”, writes Don Norman about his approach and makes a variety of arguments throughout the book. For example, you might think that by communication it would be acceptable to mean a sign or instruction on a device in the spirit of “press this to get that,” but it’s not that simple. If we are talking about a door, looking at which it is not immediately obvious which way it opens, then the “push-pull” signs will only aggravate the designer’s failure: after all, it would be necessary to initially create a door that would not cause stress and difficulties for ordinary people. On this occasion, the author, by the way, shares the story of his friend, who once got stuck between two rows of revolving doors when he was unable to enter the post office the first and second times. This is how you put newfangled doors in a shopping center or office, and people won’t be able to figure it out, they’ll turn around and leave. Or God forbid they get hurt at all.
However, if we continue the topic of doors, it is worth mentioning that sometimes the design can be regulated by safety considerations. For example, as is the case with emergency bars on doors. Here’s what Don Norman writes about this: “People running from a fire can die if they get in the way of doors that open inward, because people will try to push the door away from them, and if that doesn’t work, they will push harder. The correct design decision, which is now legislated in many countries around the world, is to make doors open when pushed away from you. This example is an excellent design strategy for dealing with real human behavior, using the capabilities inherent in the object.”. In addition, in the example with the illustration, the author also notes a black element, which indicates exactly where to push. But the example is excellent – judging by the photo, prominent parts of the structure can be detected even by touch.
Don Norman in his book gives examples of stove designs with burners and their controls, switches, electronic device interfaces, elevator panels, vegetable peelers, clocks and keypads. In general, about the usual things in the title – the pure truth, unless in your life, of course, you ignore the fact of the existence of a separate invention for peeling vegetables. In our opinion, the author managed to give examples of completely different degrees of importance, which enriches the book. In addition to emergency rods, for example, the pages also contain information about lockouts—barriers near premises that can become traps in an extreme situation. For example, installed at the entrance to the basement.
A little more about the title. Initially, the book was supposed to be called “The Psychology of Common Things,” but in the process of preparing for publication, Don Norman discovered that this did not suit the business community and IT specialists: he met criticism, which he ultimately perceived as constructive, and still changed the name. However, the content remains the same – with the same amount of information about the person’s perception and experience. “Great designers design enjoyable experiences. Experience: remember this word. Engineers don’t like it: it’s too subjective. But when I ask about their favorite car or test equipment, they smile happily and talk about the fit and finish, the feeling of power when accelerating, how easy it is to control the car when shifting or steering, or that great feeling you get when you touch its handles and switches. It’s all experience.” – he writes.
Don Norman also provides a base about the seven stages of human action, the understanding of which will make the designer’s work easier: Goal – Plan – Clarification of the plan – Execution of the plan – Perception – Interpretation of perception – Comparison of the result and the goal. Almost everything that people do is built along this chain. In our opinion, it is better for readers to interpret the examples themselves, so it is worth turning to the book itself to understand them. Still, such principles can directly influence a designer’s decisions in his workplace, and we would not want to inadvertently distort the information.
Let’s end our note with a quote from the author: “Design must take into account all levels: intuitive, behavioral and mental.” So, dear designers, hang in there. We expect from you knowledge of psychology, understanding of human needs and a little telepathy. Create masterpieces, and reading from Don Norman will help you with this.
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