Don Norman, author of “Design of Everyday Things” brings various examples and concepts when it comes to technology and challenges that arise with designing devices we use in our everyday lives. The thing that stood out to me the most was his example of a watch with four buttons. The whole paragraph talks about how it makes the user experience less enjoyable since now the watch is not merely about checking time but also providing users with additional functions. While the premise of a more feature-packed piece of technology is quite optimistic, the reality of it only confuses the vast majority of users as it takes away from its main function. Expanded this to today, this remains true. I personally own a smartwatch. Initially, I thought it would be very useful and offer numerous features. While it does all that, after the initial novelty wore off, I saw why so many people dislike them. There is no disagreement that some of these features are quite useful: instant notifications from your phone, the ability to call, reply to messages, check different apps, and so on. However, we already have peace of technology that provides all that and the purpose of the watch is redirected to a compromised clone of such device. Small screen, limited performance, difficulty interacting with UI and small buttons, and abundance of features I will probably never use, are the same sort of challenges Norman talked about. The fact that I have to charge it every day to keep it going puts a huge barrier to usability.
At the end of the day, a watch should serve one function, to display time at a quick glance. How many of us, have used our smartphones to do that even though we ourselves have digital watches on our wrists? We are sacrificing user-friendly design for the sake of complexity. It is a product that tries to be sophisticated – a jack of all trades but never excelling at anything in particular. Even when it comes to displaying time, the options and different layouts get overwhelming. This design ignores fundamental elements of good design which are simplicity, clarity, and ease of use. And what if something goes wrong? It is not a simple repair. It is attractive but not that affordable. Do I regret my purchase? Not really. At least I used it for my homework reflection.
Skip to content
