The Design of Everyday Things

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The Design of Everyday Things

• Design
• Psychology (POET)
• Psychopathology

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designing for people

• Create a good conceptual model - controls should
  look like they control something
• (problem space reflected in the solution space)
• http//www.baddesigns.com/doors.html
• Make things visible
• e.g. faucet that doubles as a shower control
• http//www.baddesigns.com/shower1.html
• Mapping - one to one, spatial, a clear path
• Feedback.... ATM example

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GUIs

• There should be only one way to get to something
• You should only be able to traverse backwards the
  way that you came

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Visibility

• User needs visual and oftentimes auditory
  indication that the system is behaving properly
• vi takes keystrokes without any indication
• turning off my iPod
• Natural mapping between objects allows the users
  to complete a task without consciously figuring
  out how the system works.
• http//www.baddesigns.com/knife.html

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Mapping

• The relationship between two or more things
• http//www.baddesigns.com/manylts.html
• Spatial (stove top)
• http//www.baddesigns.com/ranges.html
• http//www.baddesigns.com/brake-release.html
• http//www.baddesigns.com/boombox.html
• Cultural
• http//www.baddesigns.com/spigot.html
• Ever try to control a remote-controlled car?
  Coming toward you?

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Execution and Mental Models

• Providing a good conceptual model of how
  something works, helps the user to operate a
  device properly
• http//www.baddesigns.com/dorothy.html
• Each person may have a different mental model of
  how to complete some task. People who grew up on
  analog watches...
• http//www.baddesigns.com/lampsw.html
• Design has to be a common model for all.
• http//www.baddesigns.com/parking.html

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GUIs

• There is a difference between the FIRST time that
  you use a GUI, and the 100th.
• Which should you program for?
• Dont favor either.

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People as Explanatory Creatures

• Learned Helplessness - pg. 42 - self blame
• Taught Helplessness - self blame brought on by
  years of dealing with bad design
• http//www.baddesigns.com/path.html
• http//www.baddesigns.com/sidewalk.html
• http//www.baddesigns.com/numbers.html

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7 stages of action

• What wed like
• form the goal
• Acting
• form the intention (action toward a goal)
• specify the action (without ambiguity)
• execute the action (no fear of failure)
• Feedback
• perceive the state of the world (feedback)
• interpret the state of the world (what feedback
  means)
• evaluate the outcome (degree of success)

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• Information is in the world - pg. 56 - knowledge
  of and knowledge how is part of our cultural
  upbringing. Use it. - navigating a map, using a
  keyboard, opening a door, etc.
• http//www.baddesigns.com/dontgo.html
• Great precision is not required - pg. 58 - GUIs
  need not detail every move nor give power over
  every variable (MS Word mystery colors)
• http//www.forbes.com/asap/2001/0528/016a.html

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• The power of constraints - pg. 60 too much
  freedom?
• http//www.baddesigns.com/slippery.html (push or
  turn?)
• http//www.baddesigns.com/faucet2.html
• The conspiracy against memory - how many
  passwords do you need? How many numbers are you
  expected to remember?
• http//www.baddesigns.com/airpark.html
• http//www.baddesigns.com/streetsn.html

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• How many times have you left your headlights on?
  Left the refrigerator door open? Programmed the
  microwave for 120 minutes? Recorded the wrong TV
  program? Ran out of gas? Locked your keys in your
  car? Lost the remote control? Banged your head?
• How much responsibility is ours?

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who is at fault for user error?

• how well did the designer constrain the user?
• http//www.baddesigns.com/coffee_rs2.html
• http//www.baddesigns.com/markercap.html
• users often blame themselves, when it is the
  designers fault
• design must anticipate user error
• an important action must be reversible
• http//www.baddesigns.com/phone.html
• iPod shuffle

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its all in the specs

• immerse yourself in the problem space
• test during the entire dream curve with the user
  in mind

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social pressure

• putting aesthetics first - designer buildings,
  designer anything
• designers are not typical users / users are not
  designers
• creeping featurism

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GUIs

• A tendency to add frills
• A tendency to add configurability (?)
• Everyone who reviews your GUI will think youre
  an idiot.

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so how much will it cost?

• maintenance is usually 80 of the total cost.
  Saving that is free money.
• design and testing are often cut to reduce costs,
  producing the opposite effect!