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Donald A. Norman

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The Design of Everyday Things Paperback – February 1, 1990

by Donald Norman (Author)

4.5 1,261 ratings

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A popular, entertaining, and insightful analysis of why some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
B & W photographs and illustrations throughout.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Doubleday Business
Publication date

February 1, 1990
Dimensions

5.25 x 1 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0385267746
ISBN-13

978-0385267748
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans--from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools--must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed.

Review

"This book is a joy -- fun and of the utmost importance." -- Tom Peters. -- Review

...makes a strong case for the needlessness of badly conceived and badly designed everyday objects...[T]his book may herald the beginning of a change in user habits and expectations, a change that manufacturers would be obliged to respond to. Button pushers of the world, unite. -- Los Angeles Times

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday Business (February 1, 1990)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385267746
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385267748
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #401,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #148 in Environmental Engineering (Books)
- #355 in Environmental Economics (Books)
- #593 in Medical Cognitive Psychology

Customer Reviews:
4.5 1,261 ratings

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Donald A. Norman

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Don Norman takes special delight in the interaction of people and technology. "Develop the skill of observation," he says, "and especially pay attention to the obvious, for this is where you will discover many hidden insights. What seems to be obvious often is not."

Business Week has named him one of "the world's most influential designers," the influence from his books, essays, courses and students, lectures, and consulting.

He is a fellow of many organizations, including the American Association of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and former lots of things, including VP at Apple Computer, President of a startup, and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman group. He has honorary degrees from the University of Padua (Italy), the Technical University Delft (the Netherlands), and the University of San Marino. He was awarded the Benjamin Franklin medal in Computer and Cognitive Science and the Sir Misha Black medal for contributions to Design Education.

He is known for his books "The Design of Everyday Things," "Emotional Design," "Living with Complexity," and "The Design of Future Things," but he is most proud of his students all over the world, who put into practice his human-centered design philosophy.

His latest book is Design for a Better World: meaningful, sustainable, humanity centered" which draws upon his rich history to address some of the most pressing problems facing the world today. The real issues are not technical, nor can they be solved simply by technology. The most difficult is human behavior, which is why design can play such an important role. Design is a way of thinking, of solving the core underlying issues, combining a knowledge of technology, all areas of human activity, and most important of all, human behavior.

He lives at www.jnd.org, where you can find chapters from his books and loads of essays.

Customer reviews

1,261 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Customers say

Customers find the book excellent and all-encompassing. They appreciate the insights, principles, and design. Opinions are mixed on the dated content, with some finding it timeless, while others say it's showing its age.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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Readability Insight Design Dated content Boredom

66 customers mention "Readability"57 positive9 negative

Customers find the book excellent, fascinating, and a classic. They say it's well-written and insightful.

"...Yes, it's light reading. But it's valuable light reading. The message and import are worth the journey." Read more

"Without question, a wonderful piece of work! (I've given a dozen copies to students as inspiration.)..." Read more

"...1. Make interaction simple, visible, and intuitive2. Give users feedback to determine if their actions have produced the desired effect3...." Read more

"...spoiler*This is an excellent book to read and learn a thing or two about practical designs that are user friendly...." Read more

43 customers mention "Insight"39 positive4 negative

Customers find the book gives excellent insights, principles, and a wealth of knowledge. They say it's a great introduction and continual reference. Readers also mention that the book is inspiring a great deal of new work and has interesting ideas.

"...The principles are still completely relevant and not dependent on fads or changing technology...." Read more

"...The book itself provided great perspective and challenges the reader to look at everyday things from a good/bad design point of view...." Read more

"...I would recommend this as a great introduction and continual reference as we continually attempt to obtain seamless and logical interaction with..." Read more

"...design, but once I started reading I realized that it explains in detail the different aspects that influence the way we interact with the world and..." Read more

39 customers mention "Design"28 positive11 negative

Customers find the book provides a valuable perspective on design. They say it elegantly extracts principles from sometimes complex environments and presents them. Readers also mention the book creates a great new look on the world and is helpful for novice designers.

"...Norman also gives design guidelines (e.g., natural mappings, visibility, feedback etc) that the reader can focus on an implement when designing...." Read more

"...But the ideas are so very relevant...." Read more

"...The main message I got out of it is that a good design should serve men and allow us to use that object in the most natural and "human" and..." Read more

"...But the presentation was an exercise in poor design choices, and the book is simply dated...." Read more

17 customers mention "Dated content"6 positive11 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the dated content of the book. Some mention it's a classic and timeless read, while others say some of the examples are antiquated and might not be recognized.

"...I gave 4 stars because I felt that some of the examples are antiquated and might not be recognized by younger students...." Read more

"This is essential and timeless reading for any designer...." Read more

"A bit dated, but Dr. Norman covers some basic ideas that are the foundation to most modern design principles...." Read more

"...this book for my Human Centered Design class and while the content is a bit dated (Cell Phones are a bit futuristic) It is still a wealth of..." Read more

5 customers mention "Boredom"0 positive5 negative

Customers find the book incredibly boring, outdated, and not very useful.

"...etc. This book is neither interesting nor insightful...." Read more

"Not a very useful book.Too much of the book was focused on how wrong it is to put a pull handle on a push door...." Read more

"I didn't finish this book because it was too boring...." Read more

"This book I see incredibly boring and outdated...." Read more

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Sarah Heinzelwein

Essential reading for any designer of any kind

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2017

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This is essential and timeless reading for any designer. It's tough to get through, ironically because it's a book about usability and accessibility in design and it's just oceans upon oceans of text. But Donald Norman is brilliant and the ideas are sound. Consider that the original book was written long before the internet and that the revised edition in the late 90's or early 00's hadn't really gone out of date. The principles are still completely relevant and not dependent on fads or changing technology. If you are an artist, industrial designer, graphic designer, tech industry professional, or just a curious human, read this book. Don't let the Norman door hit you on the way out. (What does that even mean? Well, read the book and find out!)

7 people found this helpful

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Brian L. Donat

Light Read, Dated, but Still Applicable.

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2010

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The authors of HCI, Human Computer Interface, Dix, Finlay, Abowd and Beale, recommend this book in their early chapters. The recommend was taken to heart and the book was purchased. It's a small pocket book sized tome and may be considered pertinent, but light reading. It begins humorously, but within the first two chapters, the message of the work begins to get hammered in. It'll be a new concept some, - information in the world as compared to information in the head. There's a lot of basic HMI/HCI/Human Factors type stuff as related to user interface failures and successes. It's a sort of philosophical approach to interface design ideology in layman's language with examples and analogues. Pack this book into the brief case, the back pack or whatever, and read it while at the beach, on the bus or between more detailed knowledge seeking excursions. Take a break and absorb some reflection on pertinent interface design philosophy and then jump back into the tough stuff. Yes, it's light reading. But it's valuable light reading. The message and import are worth the journey.

2 people found this helpful

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Peter Chen

Great High-Level Thinking

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2013

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The book condition and seller were great.

The book itself provided great perspective and challenges the reader to look at everyday things from a good/bad design point of view. Norman also gives design guidelines (e.g., natural mappings, visibility, feedback etc) that the reader can focus on an implement when designing.

The book was not so good in terms of organization and consistency. Ironically the book is about good design, but the layout is lacking. First level headings are in Initial caps and aligned right, while second level headings are in all caps and aligned left. Third level headings are also all caps (with smaller font size) and aligned left. In general, I believe all caps are thought to be "bigger" and should be the first level headings and second level headings should use initial caps and third level should use initial caps and italics. I think this, at least now, is a typical cultural convention as well. If I saw only an outline of the book with all the different headings, I think the organization could be improved.

In terms of consistency, throughout the book he talks about design principles, things to keep in mind, and evaluates items back to his ideal design elements. However, that list isn't described consistently. In the 2002 preface (p.xi) the list of design principles include: conceptual models, feedback, constraints, and affordances. On p.4 Norman introduces the principle of visibility. On p.23 Norman introduces the principle of mapping. Visibility and mapping are related to conceptual models, but should not be identified as a "principle" or should have been included in the list of principles on p.xi. Norman defines his credo on p.36 for errors, which is great, but, in my opinion, should be included as a design principle. Throughout the book Norman gives examples and relates the design to the principles he's outlined, but only to some of them and not all.

To improve this read, I would recommend: (1) revise the organization and layout; a good and "symetrical" outline would greatly improve readability and would better convey the "conceptual model" of Norman's message, (2) revise the formatting of the heading levels, (3) formulate a complete list of design principles at the beginning of the book, (4) for each example, evaluate the design with respect to all of the design principles, not just some of them

3 people found this helpful

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Nora McDougall

"Required Reading" that became a favorite

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2009

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It's not often that a book you are required to read for a college course becomes a favorite, but this one did. In fact, today I did a Google search for "norman door." Sure enough, Google has it cataloged. I even found a discussion on the term on a blog site. Even when the name of the book slips my mind, that term sticks. I Googled it because my copy of the book is packed away in a storage unit somewhere from two moves, and it's cheaper to buy another copy than spending 3 hours digging through boxes.

The ironic thing about this book being "required" is that it was requried for a masters level computer science user interface class at the University of Montana. It was the only textbook for the course, about 1/10 the price of normal textbooks and about 1/10 as heavy as normal textbooks. But the ideas are so very relevant. I will be recommending it to my own web development students, even though the book isn't about web development.

By the way, has anyone out there found any Norman signs lately? The Missoula Federal Credit Union has a sign touting their Saturday hours. Unfortunately, the sign failed to mention that that doesn't apply to Saturday on Memorial Day Weekend! Maybe they should read the book!

2 people found this helpful

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Floyd

Still applicable and a great re-read/reference

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2009

Verified Purchase

I'd read this around 8 years ago and lost my copy, so I purchased it again. It's definately a timeless look at how humans interact with the design of everyday things. When I first read it, the information was an eye opener as I was newly introduced to a field called Human Factors/Usability/HCI etc. For me, it swayed my career choice and made me question the components, instructions, and layout of things humans interact with on a daily basis. Granted, not everyone runs a nuclear powerplant, but simple psychological aspects can reduce the workload and ease of use. I would recommend this as a great introduction and continual reference as we continually attempt to obtain seamless and logical interaction with objects/displays/products/etc etc.

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Anna Kop

This book, along with a few other things piqued ...

Reviewed in Canada on August 18, 2017

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This book, along with a few other things piqued my interest in the design field. It made me look at ordinary objects in a new way. It's been several years since I've read it, and I haven't looked back.

Alessio

Un classico per i designers

Reviewed in Italy on September 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

Non sono un designer ma sapevo che questo libro è un must. L'ho letto tutto d'un fiato e sono rimasto molto divertito. Allo stesso tempo ho imparato tante cose sul design che non avevo mai notato e che riguardano la vita di tutti i giorni.

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Paul Ashley

Well written on a very important topic

Reviewed in Germany on November 26, 2012

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This book is a breath of fresh air in a world surrounded by poorly designed objects. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone involved in the design process, or in the use of designed objects (hint: this book is useful for anyone).

W. Reilly

Common Sense Design - all too uncommon

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is my first time reading this book. And I have to say I am really enjoying it. It is obviously based on the authors most loved interest. Norman shows that he is an ordinary person who gets frustrated with (bad) design in the same way we all do. But then he sets about trying to help us create guidelines for better or even great design. This book is not about clean lines and hidden details. It's about obvious usability and making life easier.

The book is technically old in the sense that he refers to old tech/computers/phone systems that were common for the time of writing. Which as we know Tech moves on kind of fast. But you have to stop yourself from saying "this is so out of date". Because really the principles are timeless. Good design will always be based on how well the design fits its purpose.

So if you have an interest in design and particularly the design of things you rely on everyday. Or if you will be responsible for the design of everyday things. This is the book to get your ideas and thinking focused on the user.

Mahdi

Les bonnes questions pour les designers

Reviewed in France on March 19, 2010

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En tant que designers, on est souvent confronté à de nouvelles problématiques pour lesquelles il faut faire appel à notre sens créatif. Bien sûr la conceptualisation qu'on va proposer doit respecter son aspect pratique pour l'utilisateur et encore plus, fournir une ergonomie qui permet d'utiliser le produit de façon simple et naturelle.
Dans ce contexte, ce livre permet de se poser les bonnes questions et de se mettre dans une perspective à la fois d'utilisation et de création pour que le produit finale soit un succès.

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