Reddit reviews The Design of Everyday Things

Appliances in product design and product engineering have some specific traits. Number one is User Interface design and the concept of "affordances" which generally translates to "Form suggests intuitive Function".

The second trait is focus on narrower design requirements. A toaster is for toast, not washing dishes. It's not about "general purpose" but rather "focused purpose" done really well.

The classic case (from Norman's TDET book below) is door design: a horizontal bar suggests "push me" for operation while a handle suggests "pull me" for operation. If you see the operation in opposition to the affordance hint, you have bad UI and bad operation. Another good link - PDF from CMU.

Another axiom of this is "if you have to apply a text label to explain the operation, you've already done the basics wrong". Think about the case of having to RTFM just to use some piece of software compared to seeing the "obvious" usage of the software.

Don Norman, who had a stint at Apple in his long career in UI, wrote what is probably the best book on this idea of appliances and affordances: The Design of Everyday Things and its successor books. The cover shows a teapot, which I think accurately portrays the inane stupidity of generations of Microsoft products compared to Apple products; the latter would be an intuitively obvious "correct" teapot.

Once you are aware of the idea of affordances (which in software GUIs are all the "fluffy" design stuff you read about in Apple's Design Guidelines), you start to see problems with every design (no design is perfect) and you start designing better yourself. Another useful subject for software UI design is to study up on the concepts and background of GOMS which is the basis of UI design of the Xerox Alto which was the inspiration to Apple for the Lisa and Mac.

Your comment is basically the summary of (and written right into) this entire book http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746 . You would like the book.

doors that do not make it evident if/where you're mean to push/pull. there is a book on this topic:
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746
MANY design flaws on flash drive technology. it should be ONE piece (no top to lose) with a tether dealie or something that makes it easy to attach it somewhere. most brands have some sort of flaw. the ones that really bug me have no TETHER & only one tiny little indentation where you should be able to get a keyring in there, but the physics are all wrong. it's built for a wee bit of nylon thread to pass thru (not included.)
they've done 95% of the job. it's like they design these things for people to lose.
Yeah, too, those "automatic" lights that go off often & WILL NOT GO/STAY back on.

I'm usually annoyed by "Grrr! I'm angry all the time!" character designs, but I like Millie's style. Maybe it's because she still relaxes sometimes. Maybe it's boobs. But, it's probably because she reminds me of some girls I knew back in high school --or at least how they wanted to be.

I don't play a lot of flash games, so I'm struck by how difficult it is to control a game like this with a keyboard. Controls really influence how much patience people will have when starting a game. Here are a few random suggestions:

• Consider moving interact to Enter and maybe move jump to Space. ASD is comfortable and convenient, but it is also confusing for noobs. "quick! need to.. which button? home row, home row or home row?" Some separation would help highlight the differences. I strongly recommend the book The Design of Everyday Things to all game designers for issues like this.
  
  
• The effects of the rage meter are not clear. There are no indications of when or why I lost the ability to kick and do the air-attacks. I thought it was a bug for quite a while. Berserk mode is too brief. I still haven't figured out what difference it makes. For a while, I thought blue/green clouds upped the rage meter instead of health. I'd recommend different sized green clouds if they all up health. I'd also recommend red/blue instead of red/green because of colorblindness issues.
  
  
• The neutral air attack doesn't read as an attack. It just looks like a different jump pose. I see the connection with charge, but... Maybe a repeating horizontal slashing anim that has the same effect would be more clear. At the moment, repeatedly hitting attack while jumping looks like a twitch. Being unable to jump when pressing down is annoying.
  
  
• In general, I'm looking for more moves. Trying to discover moves and seeing nothing happen is frustrating -especially when kick and air-attacks disappear. Maybe, jump+forward+attack = upper-cut would help.
  
  
• I'm not feeling much benefit from blocking or kicking compared to the risk of mistiming and still getting hit. The enemy attacks are too brief for me to plan a block and blocks don't stumble opponent timing, so there isn't much motivation. Maybe down+forward+attack=duck-attack to dodge high attacks would help.
  
  
• I'd recommend against auto-hopping. It's fun, but hard to control. Only jump on the jump button down-edge. When it comes to side-scrollers, let the wisdom of Super Mario Bros be your guide. I strongly recommend the book Game Feel for issues like this. It has a whole chapter on the controls of SMB.
  
  
• You should be unfairly forgiving when it comes to platformer jumps. Let the logical edges of your platforms extend a bit farther than the visible edges. The goal is to let the player be a frame late when jumping, or an inch short when landing without making them fall. Otherwise, real or imagined keyboard latency will enrage your players. I also tried way too long to time my jumps off the flowers before I figured out that I could just hold jump. Some forgiveness there would help too.
  

I first saw this idea in Donald Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things", which every engineer should read.

Web design books? Meh. However, I highly recommend books like "The Design of Everyday Things" and "Don't Make Me Think". The latter does take a bit of a web focus, but they aren't your typical how-to book, they're just intended to give you some perspective on ux design (as applied to the web and elsewhere).

I interviewed at a large software company a few weeks ago for a PM position. They aligned me with multiple UI/UX teams which I interviewed with. I prepared pretty rigorously for a few weeks leading up to the interview. Specifically I read a few books that we're recommended by the recruiter from the company. The one I would highly recommend is the design of everyday things. I had no prior experience in UI/UX designer and this book forces you to think like a designer.

Second I found a great paper pertaining specifically to the postion of PM. You know they will ask you why you want to be a PM so its important to have a proper understanding of the position and its responsibilities: Zen of PM.

Best of luck with your interview and feel free to ask questions!

Read The Design of Everyday Things.

I like The Design of Everyday Things

Definitely! Good places to start are Buxton's Sketching User Experience and Norman's Design of Everyday Things


Also, the people over at Kicker Studio keep a list of the top 10 books of all time as well as a very good essential reading list.


Interaction design is a huge field, as deep as any other, so it's not just something you can pick up a book or two and become an expert in or know all the details that go into a good design, but it's definitely worth learning something about it.


One nice article that will start to change how you view interfaces is Raskin's Intuitive Equals Familiar.

Good luck!

Essential: The Design of Everyday Things

This is a good book, Design of Everyday Things
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746

Read "The Design of Everyday Things." It kind of explains why, although for the life of me I can't remember what he says.

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746

You could be correct in one thing. Perhaps it's TOO much thought that went into the site, because you can analyze it to infinity, and come with longer lists of logical reasons why it should be good, but you can't deny the simple observable fact that it isn't. It's trying to say someone should find art beautiful because they are the experts and the highest quality material is used. It doesn't mean a thing.

You should read this book, a must read for everyone into design.

The Design of Everyday Things

Talks about usability of all sorts of objects and devices with many different real-world examples. I think it's hugely relevant because it deals with the interplay between:

• the interface that the user sees
  
• how the system actually works
  
• how the user things the system works
  
  Goes well with Don't Make Me Think.

jQuery is not about design. It's about programming interaction, and interaction is a subset of design. Try The Design Of Everyday Things, for starters, and then look at your favorite sites and ask yourself what works about them and why. Use a grid system like 960.gs, and above all KISS.

The best way to test my designs is to sit someone down at a computer while I hover behind them. I Don't talk, I don't point things out, I don't even explain what the site is. Every time I see them hesitate I know I've got something to work on.

All non-fiction:

• Chaos: Making a New Science - It's a little dated now, but still a very interesting read on chaos theory and it's uses in science and math. I picked this up in high school and found it very inspiring to read.
  
• The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition - An insightful examination by Frederick P. Brooks of his experiences with developing a large mainframe and it's OS. Originally published in 1975, it is still very applicable now. I first read this in College and it's still on my shelf as a professional.
  
• The Design of Everyday Things - An interesting look at the psychology of design.
  
• Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality - An interesting look at what evolutionary psychology suggests about human sexuality.

I love this book in part because he shits from such great height on bad door design.

If you need to print words on it, your design failed.

Because they are designed by an engineer that has never studied user interface design. I see the same stuff from all the controls engineers and programmers that I work with.

It is my opinoin that every engineer should be required to read "The Design of Everyday Things"

It sucks that you have to be on the receiving end, but the guy is right. He shouldn't have to read a book to be able to use his remote. Good design is obvious and intuitive. If you have to read anything before using a product, it's been poorly designed.

Obviously that's not your fault, which is why I'm always nice to support people. Guy's a douche.

Edit: At least two redditors have never read this book.