First, businesses discovered quality as a key competitive edge; next came service. Now, Donald A. Norman, former Director of the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of California, reveals how smart design is the new competitive frontier. The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how--and why--some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
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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
--This text refers to an alternate
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This is the only updated edition, and the only one to include Don Norman's brand new introduction.
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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>-,'--
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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 1 month 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 2 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 5 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 7 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 15 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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