9.26 Design of Everyday Things part 2

1. “Hence the problem for British Rail: when the shelters had glass, vandals smashed it; when they had plywood, vandals wrote on and carved it.”
I found this example very interesting. Although both the glass and plywood would take similar strength to break it, due to the affordance of materials humans don’t think to break plywood. This psychology of materials is fascinating to me. I love that how we see objects limits how we will use them. Without even realizing we limit the options for use of objects by our assigned ideas of what objects individual purpose is.

2. The book is still influential today due to the general design aspects that are applied by Norman. He focused on what aids in good design. Concepts such as mapping, affordances, and constraints. These concepts will always relate to good design despite the advances in technology. Also having the important parts of a design visible for the consumer is an idea that will always make sense. Norman took time to focus on components of good design that are universal or somewhat universal to good design. That is what makes his book ring true even twenty years later.

3. I would include a variety of factors to evaluate a design. Visibility of needed aspects of designed object would need to be ensured. Anything that will be commonly used or is needed must be visible to the consumer. Also a good conceptual model must be made so the consumer can innately figure out what to do. The conceptual model must match how the design actually works so the consumer can best use the design. I think most products that are somewhat complex should be tested on consumers. It would be important to have the clearest labels possible for different parts of the apparatus. There should be clear thought put into the amount of buttons and executions that correspond to it.