I was trying to think of something I use daily, which causes me frustration, and I remembered my problems with my AirPods. There have been times where I wish to pair them to either my phone or laptop, but they get paired to a different device, leaving me wondering where the sound comes from or if they are even connected since the only way to tell whether your device is connected to something is by checking if sound is coming out. When connecting to AirPods there isn’t even an option asking me which device I intend to connect to, making me wonder how hard it is to incorporate an option asking you which device you would like to connect to, or even just telling me if its connected to another device that is not mine. Another issue is with AirDrop, where there are times where it does not work as expected and I have to switch it on and off, or restart my device while I do not know what the problem is. Reading Norman helped me understand the importance of an understandable design. A simple note telling me why my AirDrop didn’t work or what to do or telling me which device has the problem in it would have made everything easier.
The concepts that Norman presents can be used for interactive media projects by making them understandable without requiring any explanation. An interesting concept that Norman discusses is signifiers. Signifiers are basically clues that tell people what actions they are supposed to perform. Norman claims that “Signifiers signal things, in particular what actions are possible and how they should be done.” In my case, it means that I can make my p5.js project easy to use by making objects change color or form when the user places the mouse on them, or a short instruction of what to do. This way, they literally get an obvious signifier that tells them that the object is clickable. Another useful concept is the mapping concept. The way to use it in p5.js is by making sure that if you want to move something to the right, pressing the right arrow key will do that. It might seem obvious, but, again, this is the point that Norman makes, the design of the project should make it easy to use. I personally found this reading entertaining as it is easy to understand and applicable to everyday life. At the same time, it helped me notice the design aspects that I usually ignore since I focus a lot more on the visual of the project.