Something that genuinely drives me crazy (and it’s not in the reading) are the old washing machines that were in dorm laundry rooms. Not even because they’re complicated, but because you literally cannot tell what they are doing. You press start, sometimes it locks, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it just stops and you don’t know if it’s broken or thinking. I’ve stood there many times not knowing if I should open it, wait, or restart it. And the worst part is everyone reacts differently, some people keep pressing buttons, some unplug it, some hit it (honestly valid).
But after reading Norman I realized the problem is not that the machine is complicated but it’s that it has no feedback and no signifiers. The interface doesn’t communicate what state the machine is in. Norman explains that good design should make the possible actions discoverable and understandable. But here you don’t know if is it washing? paused? locked error?
The machine technically works, but the interaction fails. The simplest improvement would actually not be adding more buttons but adding better communication. A small progress bar, a timer that updates, or even a message like “Door will unlock in 30 seconds” would fix almost all the confusion. Norman talks about how users shouldn’t need instructions for simple objects, and when they do it means the design is wrong . A washing machine should not require guessing or trial and error.
This connects a lot to interactive media. When someone opens a sketch or website, they don’t read instructions first. They try to understand it immediately. So discoverability becomes really important. Norman calls this human-centered design, which is designing based on how people actually behave, not how we wish they behaved .
I realized my own project actually needed these ideas too. For example, at first my visualization was confusing because nothing indicated when the music would start, how to make it stop, and even at the beginning it still takes a bit to load and you don’t know why (even though its because the image and sound is uploading). After thinking about Norman’s principles, the play button became a signifier: it communicates the action you should take. Also the movement of the dots works as feedback. When the music gets louder and the dots expand, the system is telling you your action (playing the song) had an effect.
In interactive media especially, feedback is essential, for example, as Norman explains, users keep pressing elevator buttons when they don’t receive feedback. That’s literally what happens in digital projects too, if nothing responds, users assume it’s broken. So animations, hover effects, and sound reactions are not just decoration, they are communication.
Another idea from the reading is conceptual models. People build a mental explanation of how something works. If the system behaves differently from what they expect, they get confused. My sketch actually depends on this a little I would say: people assume music causes motion, so when the dots pulse with sound, it feels intuitive. They don’t need instructions.
Overall, the reading made me realize interactive art still has to be usable. Even if something is artistic, the viewer should understand how to interact with it. Good design is not just aesthetics, it is communication between the system and the user.