Darja Djatsenko
IMKE student
Review
Book The Design of
Everyday Things by Donald Norman
Introduction
In my opinion everyone who designs something that to
be used by humans (physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools or
other) have to read this book. It could change their opinion about how their
experience and interact have to be connected with physical surroundings, open
their eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good
design. This book probably could raise
expectations about how things “should” be designed.
Main part
Design is a noun or a verb? The most discussed question about this word. There is no concrete answer. Through the book I
started to think in terms of both, as in how to design a design. I recognize
that for me the design is an act of communication. Even the purely aesthetic
design, in which appearance is all, is intended to evoke a response.
Design alone should convey how thing is supposed to
work, its intended use and the expected outcomes, and when used it should
provide feedback to let the user know that things are working as intended.
As vice president of
advanced technology of Apple, Donald Norman helped determine how best to design
computers for users. He enjoyed it so much and launched a consulting firm to
apply the principles of good design to a variety of products and shared with
this information in his book.
Norman developed theories
about the psychology and psychopathology of everyday things and actions based
on how information is intuited and applied. The book is a fascinating look at
how design enables information, and how the same basic design principles can be
applied to everything from door knobs to airplane wings. Norman describes the
world and the way we interact with it in seven stages of action. We observe the
world, evaluate the current state it is in and form a picture of the state we
would like it to be in. The book is not just about examples of good or bad
design, it is about world and how design interact with human. Author tried to
explained though his own experience the main parts of the design in a clear and
easy examples. By myself I changed in some cases my mind about the principles
of design.
Conclusion
Design is a part of humans daily life and I would definitely suggest read this book to
people who would like to change this world in the best way, especially to
people who are connecting and thinking about design more that others. I would
also recommend to read this book for designers, computer scientists, engineers
and anyone who might create something for others to use.
By
myself I got the satisfaction of reading this book because I thing that world
is design and it is relevant to understand it.
