Currently, computer users must navigate a sea of guidebooks, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and wizards to perform a task such as searching the Web or creating a spreadsheet. While Donald Norman acknowledges that the personal computer allows for "flexibility and power," he also makes its limitations perfectly clear. "The personal computer is perhaps the most frustrating technology ever," he writes. "It should be quiet, invisible, unobtrusive." His vision is that of the "information appliance," digital tools created to answer our specific needs, yet interconnected to allow communication between devices.
His solution? "Design the tool to fit so well that the tool becomes a part of the task." He proposes using the PC as the infrastructure for devices hidden in walls, in car dashboards, and held in the palm of the hand. A word of caution: some of Norman's zealotry leads to a certain creepiness (global positioning body implants) and goofiness (electric-power-generating plants in shoes). His message, though, is reasonably situated in the concept that the tools should bend to fit us and our goals: we sit down to write, not to word process; to balance bank accounts, not to fill in cells on a spreadsheet. In evenly measuring out the future of humanity's technological needs--and the limitations of the PC's current incarnation--Norman presents a formidable argument for a renaissance of the information appliance. --Jennifer Buckendorff
The personal computer industry is still in its "rebellious adolescent stage," says Norman, who asserts that it is time for it to "grow up" and "enter the... world of consumer appliances"Aconvenient, versatile, pleasurable tools with potential to communicate with each other in a global information matrix. Norman (The Design of Everyday Things; Things That Make Us Smart), an established voice in the field, explains why and offers prescriptions for how such changes are to come about, together with specific ideas about what kinds of information devices might emerge. He synthesizes wisdom from the history of technology, industrial social sciences, product design and marketing to support his vision of information appliances. The key reform he advocates is human-centered product design emphasizing user experience in addition to technology and marketing considerations. Norman's provocative analysis is laced with analogies and anecdotes, and is augmented by 128 illustrations. Though all the subtitle's claims are addressed in distinct chapters, some portions seem superfluous. Because "usability often lies in the details," the argument can occasionally get bogged down in minutiae or broad-stroke summaries of motion study and other historical innovations. Stylistic glitches aside, however, Norman offers an enlightening and pragmatic account of the interrelated currents and riptides affecting product development in the computer/information industry. Readers who digest this analysis will be well rewarded.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The more things that computers do, the more complicated they invariably become to use. Norman contends that the personal computer is nearing the end of its life cycle, to be replaced by intuitive, task-focused "information appliances."
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Scientific American
Norman's thesis is that a number of modern products, most notably personal computers, come with a technological overload that makes them hard to use. He pictures a "vast chasm" that separates the early users of a device, who will put up with complex technology in order to reap the benefits offered, from later users, who want reliability and simplicity. "Alas, the aging teenagers who rule the computer companies of the world are still stuck on the youthful side of the chasm," he says. Norman maintains that personal computers and other technologically daunting devices should be as easy to use as such "information appliances" as watches, telephones, digital cameras, and compact-disc and tape players.
So what good is your personal computer if it's too complex for you to operate, or if the software and hardware aren't completely compatible, or worse yet, if the model you bought is not the industry standard. Products through history have been developed with these problems, including Edison's phonograph. Apparently, the great inventor felt people would listen to the best quality music available, but the public wanted to hear the stars, and RCA Victor and other companies bested Edison, despite his superior product. Similarly, Norman says the makers of PCs think they can continue to tinker and experiment while the public demands convenience and simplicity of use. The author, a Hewlett-Packard executive, is convinced that the company that strips back and starts over with a more streamlined, horizontal organization dedicated to simplicity of use will succeed if it employs a "user-first, technology-last" approach. The likelihood of this actually happening is questionable, but Norman writes in a relatively easy-to-read style for a techno-author. Joe Collins
Review
Don Norman's dramatic transformation from design critic to digital designer has made his observations in The Invisible Computer even more insightful and inciteful.
(Michael Schrage, Research Associate, MIT Media Lab, and authorof
Getting Real)
Don Norman has established himself as high technology's leading thinker on user interfaces and on why PCs are too complex.
(
Wall Street Journal)
...the bible of 'post-PC' thinking.
(
Business Week)
About the Author
Business Week has named Don Norman one of the world's most influential designers. He has been both a professor and an executive: he was Vice President of Advanced Technology at Apple; his company, the Nielsen Norman Group, helps companies produce human-centered products and services; and he has been on the faculty at Harvard, the University of California, San Diego, Northwestern University, and KAIST, in South Korea. He is the author of many books, including The Design of Everyday Things, The Invisible Computer (MIT Press), Emotional Design, and The Design of Future Things.
