In the chapter the psychopathology of everyday things from Don Norman’s
text “The Design of Everyday Things,” Norman breaks down the importance of multiple facets of design that are involved in creating every day objects. He
highlights the importance of design by telling stories in which both him and his friend struggle to open doors. The opening of a door is a seemingly simple task consisting of either pushing or pulling however, when poorly designed even a door can become complicated. Norman breaks down design into three major areas; industrial design, interaction design, and experience design. These last two areas are of particular interest to me as I’ve been trying to teach myself UX and UI. User experience and user interaction are essentially the same as Norman’s experience design and interaction design but instead of applied to objects applied to digital mediums. In order to understand more about the UX and UI, I’ve spent the last few months testing usability on the product. During usability testing, the subject is asked to interact with the product in the manner they believe it is intended for. At
the end of the process, users are asked how they feel after the entire experience. What was most shocking to me was how much this short interaction could impact someone’s mood. If the user believed the product to be clunky and hard to navigate they would report being deeply frustrated or angry. Poor design can have a deep impact on a person’s affect, which is why Norman explains that the solution is Human Centered Design, an approach that puts the person’s needs and behavior.
Another section of the text I found really interesting was the piece on feedback, or the communicating of results of an action. “Feedback must be immediate: even the delay of a tenth of a second can be disconcerting. If the delay is too long, people often give up, going off to do other activities.” This line deeply resonates with me, as it is a phenomenon I experience everyday with my computer. Somehow I’ve managed to do damage to some of the number keys on my computer and only about 50% of the time it responds to being pressed. When the key is unresponsive, I find myself overwhelmed with a feeling of frustrating and begin to bang furiously on the key until it responds. I’m so used to the instant response of using a keyboard, that when the feedback is non-existent, faulty or even lags I become overwhelmed with negative feelings.
text “The Design of Everyday Things,” Norman breaks down the importance of multiple facets of design that are involved in creating every day objects. He
highlights the importance of design by telling stories in which both him and his friend struggle to open doors. The opening of a door is a seemingly simple task consisting of either pushing or pulling however, when poorly designed even a door can become complicated. Norman breaks down design into three major areas; industrial design, interaction design, and experience design. These last two areas are of particular interest to me as I’ve been trying to teach myself UX and UI. User experience and user interaction are essentially the same as Norman’s experience design and interaction design but instead of applied to objects applied to digital mediums. In order to understand more about the UX and UI, I’ve spent the last few months testing usability on the product. During usability testing, the subject is asked to interact with the product in the manner they believe it is intended for. At
the end of the process, users are asked how they feel after the entire experience. What was most shocking to me was how much this short interaction could impact someone’s mood. If the user believed the product to be clunky and hard to navigate they would report being deeply frustrated or angry. Poor design can have a deep impact on a person’s affect, which is why Norman explains that the solution is Human Centered Design, an approach that puts the person’s needs and behavior.
Another section of the text I found really interesting was the piece on feedback, or the communicating of results of an action. “Feedback must be immediate: even the delay of a tenth of a second can be disconcerting. If the delay is too long, people often give up, going off to do other activities.” This line deeply resonates with me, as it is a phenomenon I experience everyday with my computer. Somehow I’ve managed to do damage to some of the number keys on my computer and only about 50% of the time it responds to being pressed. When the key is unresponsive, I find myself overwhelmed with a feeling of frustrating and begin to bang furiously on the key until it responds. I’m so used to the instant response of using a keyboard, that when the feedback is non-existent, faulty or even lags I become overwhelmed with negative feelings.
--Sophia