A few lines into this paper and all I could think of were the Campus Center doors. They are my “Norman doors” (1): always knocking me over to the side or even shutting on me when I pull the handle (of these supposedly automatic doors). I am 3 semesters in, and I have seemingly not understood how to use these doors despite their outrageous yellow signs. I used to think this was just me being scatterbrained. However, Norman’s opening chapter somehow redirected my self-blame back onto their design. By claiming, “I push doors that are meant to be pulled, pull doors that should be pushed, and walk into doors that neither pull nor push, but slide” (1), Norman helped me feel a strange kind of relief. What I did not expect was how technical the rest of the chapter would get about why doors fail. I understood his viewpoint that everyday objects are supposed to be simple to understand and mundane to use. For instance, he notes, “With complex devices, discoverability and understanding require the aid of manuals or personal instruction. We accept this if the device is indeed complex, but it should be unnecessary for simple things” (2).
He develops a fuller framework to make his case (affordances, signifiers, mapping, feedback, and conceptual models), all in service of what he calls “human-centered design” (5): the idea that design should accommodate people rather than the reverse. While I can relate affordances and signifiers to where the Campus doors fail, I want to push back on how tidy Norman makes this framework sound. His framework is almost too persuasive. It retroactively explains every ‘badly designed’ object I have ever used. I keep wondering whether this is the sign of a genuinely good theory, or just a very flexible vocabulary that can be draped over any complaint. His refrigerator story, for example, proves my point. While he seems to be right that the two controls suggest a false mental model, he also admits that even knowing the correct model did not let him operate the fridge properly. This is because the design gave him no way to act on that knowledge. This is the part I find more interesting. Correct understanding and actual usability can come apart entirely. I personally do not think Norman fully resolves that gap. He just treats it as another design failure to be fixed with better mapping.
Nonetheless, I believe that what he discusses is important. When it comes to my work (my generated artworks up to week 3), he made me realize that, so far, I have not been using signifiers. As a result, the user might not discover the full function of the interactivity I tried to incorporate. Without my written documentation, a user might not know that, for example, my first p5 sketch allowed for a change in character as the mouse is dragged. From now on, I will keep this in mind and try to put this into practice as I progress in the course.