Book Reading #11: The Design of Everyday Things

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do

The Design of Everyday Things

Donald A. Norman

Summary: In this chapter, Norman analyzes different approaches regarding people knowing what to do with things that they interact with everyday, and how even though they are items we should know excatly how to use, many people still makes mistakes. He discussed four constraints in design that should help us to identify the functionality and the way items function: physical, semantic, cultural and logical constrains. Norman also discussed in further detail how the concepts of affordances, visibility and feedback enhance the understanding of knowing what to do with with things. He also discussed how adding sound to things allows for immediate feedback.

Discussion: I really enjoyed reading about the four constraints in design. Definitely, having these constraints allows users to simplify the task of understanding how an items works. For example the example of front and read lights in cars, and I think that would also apply to the traffic lights. All the examples presented in this book just make so much sense allowing us to see the important of every aspect in the design of things. For example, the sound when making a call, I can't imagine to be dialing a number and not having any sound at all!