Design may be our top competitive edge. This book is a joy-fun and of the utmost
importance.-Tom Peters author of In Search of ExcellenceEven the smartest among us can feel
inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on or whether to push
pull or slide a door. The fault argues this ingenious even liberating book lies not in
ourselves but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of
cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary
relationships between controls and functions coupled with a lack of feedback or other
assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization. The Design of Everyday Things shows that
good usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible exploit natural
relationships that couple function and control and make intelligent use of constraints. The
goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the righttime.In
this entertaining and insightful analysis cognitive scientist Don Norman hails excellence of
design as the most important key to regaining the competitive edge in influencing consumer
behaviour. Now fully expanded and updated with a new introduction by the author The Design of
Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how and why some products satisfy customers while
others only frustrate them.
