The Design of Everyday Things

Recommended by forgodcode, it is more a book of logic to understand how designers think.

It introduces the concept of Human-Centered Design, focusing on how the user feels, what choices they make, and communicating with them. Especially when something goes wrong!

Notes

• Affordances: it is a relationship between the user and how they can interact. It must be understandable.
• Signifiers: they indicate what can be done, indirectly; they are hints. E.g. the word “pull” on a door appears when there are no other signifiers that indirectly show the user how to open it.
• Mapping: the stovetop example; a good intuitive mapping between control and outcome helps the user a lot.
• Feedback: the user wants responses. If they do something, they want a beep or an OK message, or they will think something is wrong and maybe click again.

Great takeaway: do not assume people are like you. Design for people who are less logical and who do not want to know what is behind the scenes.

Debugging: if something goes wrong, root cause analysis means asking “why, why, why”? Until you get to the cause.

Observe how users interact with the object and how they think. How they perceive it.

Human error? No, bad design. People feel stupid, but often it is the design that confuses them. Preventing errors means understanding how people understand.

Various small issues with big companies that often have deadlines, budgets, and other priorities. He understands it is not easy. Small steps, not radical changes.

All in all a good book; I did not follow everything but I liked the idea of empathizing with the user, which I often struggle with. Many parts felt slow or superfluous, but I appreciated how he updated it for today even though the original is 40 years old. The examples were on point. Not bad, aside from the slower stretches.