The Design of Everyday Things

Cognitive scientist Don Norman's provocative 1988 classic argues that when users make mistakes, it's never their fault and always the designer's fault, proposing that design serves as communication between object and user. The book introduces foundational concepts including affordances (what actions are possible), signifiers (clear indicators of how to interact), feedback (informing users of action outcomes), and the gulf of execution (gap between intentions and allowable actions). Norman's rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships coupling function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints—establishing discoverability and understanding as the most important characteristics of good design.

7 sections · 25 lessons

Course outline

Core Design Principles

  1. Discoverability
  2. Affordances
  3. Signifiers
  4. Mapping
  5. Feedback
  6. Conceptual Models
  7. Core Design Principles

Human Action Psychology

  1. Seven Stages
  2. Gulf of Execution
  3. Gulf of Evaluation
  4. Visceral, Behavioral, Reflective
  5. Human Action Psychology

Memory and Knowledge

  1. Knowledge in World
  2. Recognition vs Recall
  3. Memory and Knowledge

Design Constraints

  1. Physical Constraints
  2. Cultural Constraints
  3. Semantic Constraints
  4. Logical Constraints
  5. Design Constraints

Error and Resilience

  1. Slips vs Mistakes
  2. Error Prevention & Recovery
  3. Resilience Engineering
  4. Error and Resilience

Design Process

  1. Design Thinking
  2. Double Diamond
  3. Human-Centered Design
  4. Design Process

Design in Practice

  1. Business Constraints
  2. Featuritis
  3. Complexity vs Confusion
  4. Design in Practice

Start learning with Wondering