One thing that really drives me crazy is when websites log me out suddenly while I’m still working on something. I could literally be in the middle of typing a really long text or even filling out a form that’s like 20 questions, and suddenly the website automatically takes me back to the login page, and everything I wrote is gone and erased. It makes me feel so frustrated and annoyed at myself and the website. However, after reading Norman, I realized this is a failure of feedback and signifiers. My mental model assumes that if I’m actively typing, the system will know that I’m there. But clearly it’s running on some sort of invisible timer that I can’t see, and there’s nothing to signal that I’m about to lose everything I worked so hard on. I think this could be improved so easily by adding a simple message like “You will be logged out in 2 minutes” or even by just automatically saving drafts. Just anything really that respects the fact that users are human and not always aware of the system’s hidden rules.
If I apply Norman’s design principles to interactive media, I would focus on making those hidden rules visible in a way. I would make sure there are clear signifiers and signals showing what’s happening and clear feedback so users don’t feel confused or suprised by sudden things that the system outputs. I would also design while keeping in mind that people will make mistakes and are prone to getting distracted, because that’s just normal human nature. The reading honestly made me rethink how often we blame ourselves for doing things wrong or not understanding when really the design just didn’t communicate those rules clearly. Overall, a really eyeopening read and made me realize that good dystems should make the user feel very capable rather than lost and confused.