The design of everyday things

Whenever programmers ask other programmers for book suggestions, there's always some smartass that says something like "The Art of War" because of blah blah blah about corporate politics. Hoo boy you're clever, you suggested a non-programming book, way to not play by the rules. You really march to the beat of your own drum there, slick.

Similarly, I constantly see "The Design of Everyday Things" suggested in these kinds of conversations. I think it's supposed to give engineers great insights into design and how humans interact with objects around them. This is supposed to change our outlook for the software we build for people.

Well, I don't think it did that at all. Really, the only thing to take away in that regard is "think about how people use your software". In other words, I think a great many UX-centered books are vastly superior in this regard.

That's not to say this book is bad. In fact, I imagine there are people reading my review right now thinking "who gives a shit that this guy is a software engineer?" Indeed, this book is great. Very enjoyable, and very informative. It made me think about every day objects I've never even given a second thought to. There's an entire section on sink faucets that blew my mind. But ultimately, the book is really about exactly what the title says it is, the design of everyday things and objects. There's some hinting at a greater, broader meaning than this, but it never comes to much.

Definitely a great read, worth it for sure, but don't buy into the "everyone who makes software should read this book" hype.

1) "Would you like a pocket-size device that reminded you of each appointment and daily event? I would. I am waiting for the day when portable computers become small enough that I can keep one with me at all times. I will definitely put all my reminding burdens upon it. It has to be small. It has to be convenient to use. And it has to be relatively powerful, at least by today's standards. It has to have a full, standard typewriter keyboard and a reasonably large display. It needs good graphics, because that makes a tremendous difference in usability, and a lot of memory---a huge amount, actually. And it should be easy to hook up to the telephone; I need to connect it to my home and laboratory computers. Of course, it should be relatively inexpensive."

2) "Much of our knowledge is hidden beneath the survace of our minds, inaccessible to conscious inspection. We discover our own knowledge primarily through our actions. We can also find out by testing ourselves, by trying to retrieve examples from memory---self-generated examples. Think of an example, then think of another example. Find a story that explains them. Then we believe that story and call it the reason or explanation for our behavior. The problem is that the story changes dramatically depending upon what examples we select. And the examples we select depend upon a large set of factors, some under our control, some not."

3) "Most designers live in a world where the gulf of evaluation is infinite. True, we often know the product too well to envision how people will use it, yet we are separated from the end users by multiple layers of corporate bureaucracy, marketing, customer services, etc. [...] The best design ideas are often ruined by the development-manufacturing process that takes place when they leave the design studio."

4) "Design should:
Make it easy to determine what actions are possible at any moment (make use of constraints).
Make things visible, including the conceptual model of the system, the alternative actions, and the results of actions.
Make it easy to evaluate the current state of the system.
Follow natural mappings between intentions and the required actions; between actions and the resulting effect; and between the information that is visible and the interpretation of the system state.
In other words, make sure that (1) the user can figure out what to do, and (2) the user can tell what is going on."

Over 20 years old now and showing it's age a bit, but the points and principles are still very valid. This is a good book for anyone who makes anything that other people must use, whether it's documentation or computer games or machinery. The author examines factors that make a good, or bad, design and lays out some basic principles to help guide designers.

I didn't give it 5 stars because it's really getting quite dated in parts - especially the parts talking about computers - and they really should gave done a complete updated revision instead of just slapping a preface on the 2002 edition. Also, I did find the author got a bit repetitive; many of the examples were redundant and the book could probably have been slimmed down quite a bit. It would be nice to see a real new edition of this book with updated examples and a bit more conciseness.