Don Norman’s The Psychopathology of Everyday Things really opened my eyes to how much bad design affects our daily lives. His discussion of doors reminded me of my experience at NYUAD. I used to end up intuitively pulling doors with vertical long handles and pushing those with horizontal bars, and it wasn’t until a few weeks after I arrived that a friend pointed out there were no push or pull signs. I hadn’t even realized I was making these distinctions based on the design alone. It’s funny how my brain just figured it out without needing instructions, which shows how good design can guide us without us being fully aware of it. Norman’s ideas made me realize that so many products we use every day could be vastly improved if designers paid more attention to human-centered design. It is not just about creating something that works, but about creating something that’s easy to understand and use without frustration. I also found it interesting how he called out the way we often end up memorizing how to use devices rather than actually understanding them. I end up doing this fairly often, especially with kitchen appliances or electronics that have overly complicated settings.
One thing that really struck me was how affordances and signifiers play such a crucial role in how we interact with objects. This is something I hadn’t thought about in such specific terms before, but now it makes perfect sense. When I encounter a badly designed interface or physical object, it is often because the designer didn’t consider how obvious the next step would be for the user. This made me think of apps or websites where I’ve been completely lost—sometimes even a simple swipe or button press isn’t clear. A specific thing that drives me crazy is the lack of intuitive design in most remote controls. They often have so many buttons with unclear labels, and I find myself guessing which one does what. I think this could be improved by better mapping, where the placement and labeling of buttons are more aligned with common usage patterns, similar to Norman’s example of how good mapping improves ease of use in car seat adjustments.
Norman’s principles could be applied to interactive media by ensuring clear affordances and signifiers when designing digital interfaces. For instance, in a web application, making interactive elements like buttons stand out visually and providing immediate feedback when clicked would improve the user experience. Interactive media can benefit so much from human-centered design because it directly affects the user experience. After reading Norman’s work, I’m now even more aware of how essential it is to design not just for function, but for human behavior and understanding.