In the design of everyday things, Don Norman discussed many interesting ideas and perspectives of design thinking. His example of doors – was quite thought provoking. Last week’s reading had this idea of ‘form and function’ in interactivity design. Thinking about something as simple as doors made this concept clear to me – both form and function are essential to develop a good design.
Norman’s idea of Human Centered Design that focuses on making machines discoverable and understandable was quite interesting too. He stated several things that I relate with – particularly about us taking shortcuts when a product is too complex. Thinking about this, I thought that maybe there is an ideal level of complexity for all products and the designer has to think about how much complexity is enough? In general, I would say that there should be as little complexity as possible and as much complexity as necessary.
The ideas of affordance, signifiers, constraints, mapping, feedback were all new to me. I had heard about affordance previously but never though t of it as a “relationship” between people and objects. This reading compelled me to think about some designs I encounter in everyday life (such as a lift or a chair). I hope to integrate these principles into any future design projects that I undertake , so that I can find solutions that are user-friendly and intuitive.
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