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 lies in product design that ignore the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. A bestseller in the United States, this bible on the cognitive aspects of design contains examples of both good and bad design and simple rules that designers can use to improve the usability of objects as diverse as cars, computers, doors, and telephones.
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"Norman... makes a strong case for the needlessness of badlyconceived and badly designed everyday objects... [T]his book mayherald the beginning of a change in user habits and expectations, achange that manufacturers would be obliged to respond to. Buttonpushers of the world, unite." Los Angeles Times --Los Angeles Times
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This is the only updated edition, and the only one to include Don Norman's brand new introduction.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
"You would need an engineering degree from MIT to work this," someone once told me, shaking his head in puzzlement over his brand new digital watch. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"You would need an engineering degree from MIT to work this," someone once told me, shaking his head in puzzlement over his brand new digital watch. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
You read this book and then you think aha! - thats why I have trouble with my door/kettle/car. Norman manages to inform the reader with interesting examples, backed up by years of research.
One of the easiest ways to sell good design and usability is by showing people what happens if you don't invest enough time and resources. This book provides ample ammunition to any designers who are confronted with clients who require educating, as well as a design solution.
Why not 5 stars? - well, the book could be longer.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Haeg
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's an exceptional book, so why have I given it only 4 stars?
Certainly not the books fault, but this book does tend to get recommended to students as the definitive book for software interface design.
The book is quite dated, being just a renamed reprint of 1989 book "The Psychology of Everyday Things", identical content, except with a new foreword.
The insight into the flawed design of everyday objects is amazing, but could have been so much better if instead of just updating the foreword new chapters were added dealing with modern issues (computers, satellite tv, mobile phones, etc).
Reading this book will still make high tech designers better, but don't expect it to be as relevant to you as it was to your lecturer who read it 17 years ago.
Certainly not the books fault, but this book does tend to get recommended to students as the definitive book for software interface design.
The book is quite dated, being just a renamed reprint of 1989 book "The Psychology of Everyday Things", identical content, except with a new foreword.
The insight into the flawed design of everyday objects is amazing, but could have been so much better if instead of just updating the foreword new chapters were added dealing with modern issues (computers, satellite tv, mobile phones, etc).
Reading this book will still make high tech designers better, but don't expect it to be as relevant to you as it was to your lecturer who read it 17 years ago.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By M. Krzysik
Format:Paperback
This book was a required textbook for design module in my BSc course. It's a very interesting read, and you'll enjoy Mr Norman's examples and explanations of why some things work well and others don't. He explains many design principles such as 'mapping' and 'feedback', and their importance is made made apparent though his many examples and case studies. In general the content of the book is very relevant.
The tone of the book, unfortunately, is very negative. Admittedly, it is easier to find problems than impart praise. It is nevertheless better to teach via good examples. Mr Norman seems to get great pleasure from pointing out when some appliance doesn't meet one of his principles. Perhaps he's still bitter about a bad childhood experience with a badly designed toaster...
Although the content is revelant, it is not well organised. There should at least be a distinct section of the book dedicated to each principle. Instead, the author introduces some principles in point form, and others elsewhere in the text. This makes studying especially difficult, as you spend much of your time making sure you've found all the revelant principles.
For a book on design, I am dissapointed to see that it is more difficult to use than it should be. Mr Norman, as per your request on the last line of the book, here's a weed 0>-,'--
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
An enlightening and often entertaining critique on the inadaquacies of designed objects and systems based on the seminal "The Psychology of Everyday Things" (1988). Norman is scathing of design which is not user centred unleasing exceptional scorn on the designers of door handles and light switches. Even these simple systems are poorly designed, he argues, so how are users expected to operate infinitely more complex systems?
Norman exposes some simple guidelines for ensuring usable design which make one wonder why they appear to be so frequently ignored in comtemporary design.
This book is not only a must for design students, it is essential for even senior designers and managers involved with design.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was recommended reading in my undergrad psychology course, and it has changed my life. After reading this book I decided to continue research into usability. I am now at the end of my doctorate in Human Computer Interaction and loving it...
most of my undergraduate colleagues who decided on a different career path, still rate this book as one of their favorites!... you will never look at the world in the same way after you have read this book... it is truly inspiring...
24 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Tom du Pré
Format:Paperback
This book has very little if anything to do with software design, or even door handle to tap design. These examples are given purely to demonstrate what the book is really about, which the Design of the human brain. Although he talks a lot about the physical objects around us, he continually refers back to why the objects are the way they are and how the human brain makes decisions about how it will interact will them. He is trying to explain that the design of objects does not exist in isolation. An object is not in itself functional. It becomes functional when it begins to interact with its surroundings, and that interaction is frequently with humans. As well as interacting physically with objects, human must interact psychologically with them, although this psychological is frequently (and often should be) sub conscious. Understanding the nature of these subconscious psychological interaction with our surrounding's is what this book is about, and it's very interesting, often amusing, and despite the dodgy 1970's photos, it will be timeless.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I find the book very readable and entertaining. Nice real-life examples explained in normal terms and the author's strong philosophy all keep the reader comfortable and engaged. Surely worth reading for everybody.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Keith Appleyard
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
We all go through life frustrated by stupid design of everyday things. This book reassures you that you're not cracking up, and that there are others out there who feel the same way.
However, the book is now 15 years old, so many of the examples quoted seem very quaint, and the photographs seem even older - like scenes from the earliest 'James Bond' movies.
There needs to be a more upto date view of good/bad design - design principles are not immortal - what was good yesterday might not be any good for tomorrow - eg what was good in a black & white world might be irrelevant in a colour world.
However, the book is now 15 years old, so many of the examples quoted seem very quaint, and the photographs seem even older - like scenes from the earliest 'James Bond' movies.
There needs to be a more upto date view of good/bad design - design principles are not immortal - what was good yesterday might not be any good for tomorrow - eg what was good in a black & white world might be irrelevant in a colour world.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
They don't call him the Don for nothing..
Superb book, very detailed. You'll never look at objects the same way again. After reading it I find literally everyday, people making errors and mistakes which are bought up in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Awaes Ishfaq
5.0 out of 5 stars
User Interface applied to non-computer design
This is a real enlightenment, helping to understand many issues of modern life like door-handles, coffee flasks, soap dispensers - all kinds of "clever" designs which can... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rod Dalitz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting book
really good and funny book about designs and what we have to think about when we design. It talks about how design can be fun and how some things that are designed are actually... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Inga Osk
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but dry
This is a good explanation of design from an early Apple-affiliated guy, and there are some interesting thoughts in it. However, I found it rather drily written.
Published 6 months ago by Kieron
5.0 out of 5 stars
Common Sense Design - all too uncommon
This is my first time reading this book. And I have to say I am really enjoying it. It is obviously based on the authors most loved interest. Read more
Published 8 months ago by W. Reilly
5.0 out of 5 stars
very great book for every great designer
one of the best book on interaction design, embodied interaction affordance and inclusive design. you will find so interesting information
Published 16 months ago by Awad
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let's read it
If you are a designer in any field, you need to read it just to understand better how the world around you works.
Published 22 months ago by Mr. Benjamin Parisot
5.0 out of 5 stars
Open your mind to usability
The Design of Everyday Things is not a common book. It is a book about thinking how things are made, and more important, why they are made that way. Read more
Published on 3 April 2011 by Kartones
4.0 out of 5 stars
I can understand why it's a "must read" for designers
This book is obviously about design and everyday things, like doors, taps and electr(on)ic equipment, but it's also about psychology and not so everyday things, like museums,... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2010 by Maarten de Vries
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Very Insightful
I am a bit surprised that this has so good reviews. I read it and found it fairly unenjoyable, not very insightful and often I thought "anybody could have written this. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2010 by J
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