Reading Don Norman made me think more critically about the projects we have done in class. In previous projects, we focused a lot on making something work, but Norman made me realize that something working does not always mean it is well designed. A user should not have to stop and think about what to click, press or do next. This connects to our own projects because even a simple interactive project can become confusing if the design does not clearly communicate how it works. I think this is something I sometimes overlook because I focus more on the code and the final result than on how another person experiences it.
Something everyday that annoys me a lot is my car doors. I have a Tesla, and the car doors are designed to be one with the door, which annoys me, especially as a commuter. I usually have a lot of things in my hands during long days, so opening the door requires a completely empty hand. One time, I had a bottle of water in my hand and wanted to open the door but I had just gotten a fresh manicure. My fresh manicure was ruined, and I had to go inside the salon to fix it. I ended up having to put the bottle on top of the car just so I could open the door.
What I found most interesting was Norman’s idea that designers should not blame users when something is confusing. It made me question how much responsibility we have as creators to make our projects understandable. For our previous class projects, we usually know how our own work functions because we made it, but a new user does not have that same knowledge. This makes me think that testing our projects with other people is just as important as creating them. Going forward I want to pay more attention to whether my projects are actually intuitive to someone who has never seen them before, instead of assuming that if I understand it, everyone else will too.