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The Psychology Of Everyday Things Hardcover – June 13, 1988

by Don Norman (Author)

29 customer reviews

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Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure our which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this fascinating, 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 book presents examples aplenty—among them, the VCR, computer, and office telephone, all models of how not to design for people.But 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 right time. But the designer must care.The author is a world-famous psychologist and pioneer in the application of cognitive science. His aim is to raise the consciousness of both consumers and designers to the delights of products that are easy to use and understand.

The Psychology Of Everyday Things

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Product Details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (June 13, 1988)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0465067093
ISBN-13: 978-0465067091
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.6 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #52 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems > Ergonomics
- #300 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems > Industrial Design
- #622 in Books > Business & Money > Marketing & Sales > Consumer Behavior

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4.6 out of 5 stars

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A classic.

By Karl Reinsch on June 14, 1999

Format: Hardcover

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.)

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Primer for a language of product design

By Karl E. Boggs on March 17, 2000

Format: Hardcover

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.

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A Software Development Manager's Perspective

By Philip R. Heath VINE VOICE on September 4, 2009

Format: Hardcover

The Psychology of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman is a book that gives an interesting treatment of usability and design of everything from doors to computers. Over seven chapters and 217 pages (of core content), Norman lays out a very logical and technical treatment of the subject. I am a software development professional, and I choose this book to look for higher level principles that I could apply in my line of work. This has been done very successfully in the realm of design patterns in software that have their conceptual root in architectural patterns.

Norman gives a number of illustrations based on who people have difficulties using doors of varying styles. Who has not had a mishap of trying to pull a "push" door or push a "pull" door? While giving the reader something that they can relate to, Norman outlines the factors that distinguish good designs from poor ones. He talks about the visible queues that objectives give users as to the proper use in addition to feedback that the user has accomplished their goal in using objects. Some examples are a bit dated (given that the book was published 20 years ago) such as the difficulties of slide projectors and VCRs. However the principles that he relates transcend time and apply as much today as they did 20, 40, and 100 years ago. It is also interesting that he calls for things yet invented that are now in existence such as the PDA/smartphone and CDs that contain the artist and song information for display on your radio. At the end, I got a bit of a laugh from his trepidation about the issues that would come from being able to search the world's collection of hypertext documents. However, the early days of the internet did prove his fears correct. We take Google's work for granted.Read more ›

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Design for everyday Human Behavior

By Jeffrey Sauro on September 16, 2002

Format: Hardcover

This is one of the seminal works in the field of User Centered Design...Norman wrote this book well before the Windows operating system was as familiar as the Golden Arches which only reinforces the idea that certain basic usability principles transcend all forms of objects-from glass doors to Windows Explorer.
Norman does a great job of describing why and how we successfully and unsuccessfully use everyday objects with relevant anecdotes. His stories are usually accompanied with lists of principles that explain good design and account for human behavior. For example, the fundamental principals of designing for people are to: Provide a good conceptual model, make controls visible and to constantly provide feedback to the user.
So how does one employ good user-centered design? Norman recapitulates his points at the end of the book by listing the seven UCD principles for transforming difficult tasks into easy ones:
1. Use both knowledge in the world and in the head
2. Simplify the structure of tasks
3. Make things visible
4. Get the mappings right
5. Exploit the powers of constraints Natural & Artificial
6. Design for Error
7. When all else fails, standardize
It's mandatory reading for any usability software engineer but also an interesting and well written book for anyone who's ever pushed a "pull door" or scalded themselves in the shower (which is all of us).

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An excellent starter book for user interface design!

By A Customer on February 1, 2001

Format: Hardcover

This was my first human factors type book, and I very much enjoyed it. As a software engineer, this book was very helpful in putting a structure to ideas that I had thought of as common sense. Ideas such as giving the user visual cues as to function, providing feedback, and presenting the user with a clear conceptual model are a few of the ideas which are outlined in this book. While any one of these might be thought of as obvious once illustrated, the book provides a framework for design by listing them and making it clear what the tradeoffs are. With many real world examples to illustrate his points, as well as to amuse the reader, I found this book very clear and easy to read. The next time that I sit down to design a user interface I'll have a much clearer and organized approach to both design and to evaluate the design that I've created.

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Great. Original title of the "Design of Everyday Things".

By A Customer on June 20, 1997

Format: Hardcover

...so don't buy them both.

Anyway, should be required reading in high school by all humans in who build or use designed things.

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Highly recommended

By S. Mittal on February 17, 2013

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Once you've read this book, you'll never blame yourself for not figuring out how to use something again. Norman makes a compelling argument that industrial design must be done with usability in mind, and that it's largely not the users fault for failing to correctly use something.

It's a valuable lesson for anyone who builds or designs pretty much anything, hardware or software. Even if the things you build are only for your use, keeping the ideas in this book in mind can help protect you from yourself.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Explained so well and such an interesting read!

Published 4 months ago by blair gemmer

Good read

Interesting read. I would recommend it especially if you are a developer.

Published 21 months ago by Jesse Wright

Five Stars

If you design things for human use, you need this book!

Published 22 months ago by COL James D. Bass, Ph.D.

Book arrived with crack in the corner

The book arrived with a crack in the corner and the cover is bended.
Book seems new, the damage is probably done during transport in a simple carton box.

Published on May 8, 2014 by maxim

Why we have trouble with things?

It has always amazed me how many times I have seen people stumble over what should be very simple things. Causing delays and frustration and sometimes harm. Read more

Published on September 4, 2013 by Bill

A dated but life-changing read on the usability of everyday things.

An excellent book looking at usability and design. It's not hard to see why this book is a set text on many HCI and general Comp. Sci. courses worldwide. Read more

Published on July 21, 2011 by Lloyd Morgan

Recommended for me and by me!!!

I forward the recommendation that was made to me once. A nice book for thinking design and practical concepts. Read more

Published on January 3, 2010 by Lionel

Industrial design in a nutshell

Dome-headed engineering professors call it "human factors engineering," "interaction design" or "usability engineering," but the purpose of this strangely-named discipline is far... Read more

Published on January 10, 2008 by Rolf Dobelli

A real treat - so incredibly interesting!!

This book is fantastic!!! It explains how the most basic things in the world work, and as a result is one of the fundamental building blocks to gaining a curiosity of everything... Read more

Published on April 7, 2007 by Mr. Nathaniel Singer

Great book, but same as The DESIGN of Everyday Things

I was confused when I first ordered because this book appeared to be a different book from The DESIGN of Everyday Things, but they are, in fact, the same book, just different... Read more

Published on January 17, 2007 by Jared V

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