Rating: 
Summary: Great. Original title of the "Design of Everyday Things".
Review: ...so don't buy them both.
Anyway, should be required reading in high school by all humans in who build or use designed things.
Rating:
Summary: Primer for a language of product design
Review: A fun book that might open your eyes to things usually taken for granted. My copy of the book was actually bound with the spine on the opposite side of the book which was a bit awkward but was a lesson in the spirit of the book. (I have never seen another copy bound the same way, so it might have been an accident.) I return to the book whenever I think I am stuck in habitual thinking about objects and processes.
Rating: 
Summary: What a whiner!
Review: A pretty annoyjng whiny book about industrial design. The seven stages of action: forming the goal, forming the intention, specifying the action, executing the action, perceiving the state of the world, interpreting the state of the world, evaluating the outcome. All these are done with every action done by humans.
Rating:
Summary: This is the one to start with on Don.
Review: Every time I pull a "push" door I think of Donald -- because of this book. This is the definative Don Norman book. If you are starting to read about this cognitive science/ user design / interface field. This is the place to start. I love all of Don's writings. But this is still the best.
I just ordered the (much awaited) "The Invisible Computer...". I am sure that it will be a quick read -- as this one was. He gets to the point and makes it fun to read the whole book quickly.
This is a fun read!
Rating:
Summary: A very good book.
Review: I'm a software engineer who occasionally designs user interfaces. I thought this book was very good (and funny too); it helped clarify some of the general ideas I have about designing software UIs and APIs. Norman does a good job pointing out many design problems in everyday life. He also presents some simple solutions to these problems. The reason I gave this book five stars is because I feel that it will have a lasting impact on the way I think. I've already started to conciously notice dozens of elegant and inelegant designs that before I paid no attention to.
Rating: 
Summary: Pull me, Push you!
Review: If you are stymied when trying to set a $10 alarm clock, or find yourself pushing on doors clearly labeled "PULL" or you let your VCR player blink 12:00 because it defies your best programming efforts, then a visit with the good Dr. Donald Norman will set everything aright.
In "The Psychology of Everyday Things, " Norman, a cognitive psychologist, explains why gadgets don't work the way we expect them to. Better yet, he spotlights devices that *do* work well, effortlessly engaging our intuitive sense of the way things ought to behave. Along the way, we learn a great deal about the way our minds unconsciously read cues gathered from objects, impelling us to interact with them in certain ways. A flat plate on a door, for instance, sends the message, "push me." A raised handle on a door insists, "grab me and pull!" Yet how many doors meant for pushing are fitted with raised handles? After reading this book, you will never look at a door, or a computer screen, or a even a car radio the same way. And you will never again take for granted the gifted designers and interface engineers who allow us to use their products without effort.
The driest parts of the book are those where Norman delves into psychological basis for his observations. But these sections are short enough and easily skipped if you aren't interested, allowing you to enjoy his many fascinating examples of good and bad design.
Rating:
Summary: Well, this explains a LOT
Review: In a way, this is a self-help book. But to call it that is to damn it, so instead we must term it something else. The appellation, however distasteful, fits for POET (as Norman abbreviates it, later retitled The Design of Everyday Things) goes a long way in explaining just exactly why and how we make everyday mistakes, and how we can help ourselves and others escape these problems. I believe it was Pat Cadigan who I first heard sum up this book in the memorable phrase, "I didn't fail the technology; the technology failed me." Every time I find myself pushing on the hinge side of a door to open it, or push the door when I should have pulled, I quote that phrase. It wasn't me who failed to understand how the door work--the door failed to provide me with the necessary clues to work it. User error, as Norman notes in POET, is a misnomer; many, many times it is a design error.This book should be read by everyone, I think, for it deals with everybody. I know of no one who has not cursed at a computer program, or some door, or similar. But only by demanding "user centered design" can we escape the tyranny of form over function. To illustrate, take the example of file names in DOS. Yes, we have achieved the standardization of 8 character names and 3 character extensions. But this is an outdated and frustration convention. It is a holdover from CP/M days (I believe) when computers lacked the memory and storage capacity of today's computers. But until enough people demand a change, this inefficient and confusing convention will be with us. Macintosh owners, although free of this particular evil, can no doubt recall various designs that they wish to change as well. The difference is in philosophy: the Macintosh was designed first for the user, and it is only the "creeping featurism" of established programs today that threaten its user friendliness.
Rating:
Summary: A classic.
Review: Same book as the paperback "The Design of Everyday Things". Just as good a book under either title. (You'll find more reviews of it under the other title.)
Rating:
Summary: A rare find - an accessible, probing book on design
Review: This book breaks through the ergonomics enlightment barrier. There is now NO excuse for overtly anti-user design. Except that the ideas appear so obvious after reading that cynics will continue to trivialise usability as cosmetic. Essential reading for Designers, Programmers, Engineers, Architects and a lot more besides.
Rating:
Summary: Even today...
Review: This book is a must read for everybody and anybody who wants to get into the design end of things.
Should even be a mandatory read for most Product Managers!
It has definitely openned up my mind and gave me very good pointers.
|
