Lab 4 0.13.04 Documentation and Reading

Donald A. Norman's "The Psychopathology of Everyday Things" addresses the issue of bad design and how to improve it. Although some of the examples are dated, the points made are still valid. I still haven't figured out how to open the pcomp Shop door. The picture of "Carelman's Coffeepot for Masochists" is cool. We've all seen sadistic products before: "surround sound" amplifier buttons, trojan horse shareware which doesn't work, etc.

Norman says an important consideration is visibility and natural, i.e. intuitive design. He states that "when simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed." I couldn't agree more. Normal also states that designers need to consider the user's psychology. In conclusion, he states that clever design can help reduce complexity in (technological) products.