The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition

Author: Norman, Don

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The same technology that simplifies life by providing more functions in each device also complicates life by making the device harder to learn, harder to use. This is the paradox of technology and the challenge for the designer. (14.19560%)

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First, how do people do things? It is easy to learn a few basic steps to perform operations with our technologies (and yes, even filing cabinets are technology). But what happens when things go wrong? How do we detect that they aren’t working, and then how do we know what to do? (15.14200%)

• Comments: These are the topic questions of the chapter.

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When people use something, they face two gulfs: the Gulf of Execution, where they try to figure out how it operates, and the Gulf of Evaluation, where they try to figure out what happened (Figure 2.1). The role of the designer is to help people bridge the two gulfs. (15.45740%)

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There are three stages of execution that follow from the goal: plan, specify, and perform (the left side of Figure 2.2). Evaluating what happened has three stages: first, perceiving what happened in the world; second, trying to make sense of it (interpreting it); and, finally, comparing what happened with what was wanted (the right side of Figure 2.2). (16.08830%)

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The action cycle can start from the top, by establishing a new goal, in which case we call it goal-driven behavior. In this situation, the cycle starts with the goal and then goes through the three stages of execution. But the action cycle can also start from the bottom, triggered by some event in the world, in which case we call it either data-driven or event-driven behavior. In this situation, the cycle starts with the environment, the world, and then goes through the three stages of evaluation. (16.08830%)

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What about radical ideas, ones that introduce new product categories to the marketplace? These come about by reconsidering the goals, and always asking what the real goal is: what is called the root cause analysis. (16.40379%)

• Comments: This is an interesting approach to innovation: ask why until you hit a root cause, then solve THAT problem. I wonder how many untapped opportunities there are when you take this approach.

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Most of human behavior is a result of subconscious processes. (16.71920%)

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Subconscious processing is one of our strengths. It is good at detecting general trends, at recognizing the relationship between what we now experience and what has happened in the past. And it is good at generalizing, at making predictions about the general trend, based on few examples. But subconscious thought can find matches that are inappropriate or wrong, and it may not distinguish the common from the rare. Subconscious thought is biased toward regularity and structure, and it is limited in formal power. (17.66560%)

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Because much human behavior is subconscious—that is, it occurs without conscious awareness—we often don’t know what we are about to do, say, or think until after we have done it. It’s as if we had two minds: the subconscious and the conscious, which don’t always talk to each other. Not what you have been taught? True, nonetheless. More and more evidence is accumulating that we use logic and reason after the fact, to justify our decisions to ourselves (to our conscious minds) and to others. Bizarre? Yes, but don’t protest: enjoy it. (17.66562%)

• Comments: If this is true, it offends so many of my personal beliefs. Although on the other hand, it's not like rationality plays no role in decision-making. It could still help as a retrospective tool for future decisions.

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Emotion interacts with cognition biochemically, bathing the brain with hormones, transmitted either through the bloodstream or through ducts in the brain, modifying the behavior of brain cells. (17.98110%)

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a useful approximate model of human cognition and emotion is to consider three levels of processing: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. (17.98110%)

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A positive emotional state is ideal for creative thought, but it is not very well suited for getting things done. Too much, and we call the person scatterbrained, flitting from one topic to another, unable to finish one thought before another comes to mind. A brain in a negative emotional state provides focus: precisely what is needed to maintain attention on a task and finish it. Too much, however, and we get tunnel vision, where people are unable to look beyond their narrow point of view. (17.98110%)

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The most basic level of processing is called visceral. This is sometimes referred to as “the lizard brain.” (18.29650%)

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The behavioral level is the home of learned skills, triggered by situations that match the appropriate patterns. (18.29650%)

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For designers, the visceral response is about immediate perception: the pleasantness of a mellow, harmonious sound or the jarring, irritating scratch of fingernails on a rough surface. Here is where the style matters: appearances, whether sound or sight, touch or smell, drive the visceral response. (18.29650%)

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These are part of the basic protective mechanisms of the human affective system, making quick judgments about the environment: good or bad, safe or dangerous. (18.29650%)

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For designers, the most critical aspect of the behavioral level is that every action is associated with an expectation. (18.61200%)

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The information in the feedback loop of evaluation confirms or disconfirms the expectations, resulting in satisfaction or relief, disappointment or frustration. (18.61200%)

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Feedback is critical to managing expectations, and good design provides this. Feedback—knowledge of results—is how expectations are resolved (18.92740%)