I’m reading and listening, The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.
(For me, I miss a lot of things when I read or listen, so I decided to buy both. So I can follow along. I use this technique when I read the bible. I read them in Korean and listen in English. It may sound confusing, but in this way, I can consume and understand better.)
As I read this book, I realized how many design errors exist in our life. I’ve told my family and friends about my mistakes on things that I use, and they always said to me that it is my fault. But this book tells me that it isn’t. I felt more confident using technology and started to observe what are the failures in our daily routine. Also, not only criticizing the design errors, but he also mentioned it is crucial to know how I would solve this error for better usability.
The one that most stood out to me was Norman’s door and light switches.
Norman door
A Norman door is a poorly designed door that confuses or fails to give you an idea of whether to push or pull. It named after Don Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things, which explored the phenomenon. (Google search)
For me, I always do the opposite way of what it says on the door. It’s like someone telling me to turn right, but I turn left. I strongly agree that the door should not be explained, it’s either you open or close. Here is one example from the Denver Art Museum.
Every time I go to the Denver Art Museum, I do the opposite of how the door functions. The doors have large vertical handles on the edge of the right and the left side. (It’s hard to see in this picture.) Also, they have the sign to pull or push, but I always make mistakes, and I thought it was my fault of not reading the instruction on the door.
If I were a designer, I would put the horizontal handle for a push and put a vertical handle for a pull. That way, people know which direction to pull or push without thinking.
Switches
In chapter 4, he talks about the light switches in an auditorium are annoying. Especially when there are eight of them in a single row. But it’s not just in the auditorium; in fact, there are light switches in our home that causes the same problem.
We recently moved to our house, and I counted how many switches in our home. There are14 single switches, eight double switches, and eight triple switches. In my room, I have a triple switch, and I still don’t know what the middle does.
I complained to my family that we need to put a sticker on the switch, and they told me that I would get used to it. But I don’t think I would. I will still turn on all three lights to see which one is which if it’s not for my room.
The one way that my dad uses to solve this issue is to put a wireless remote for the places that we use most often. So the triple switch is useless with this remote. For our triple switch does is that: one is for the light on the ceiling, another is for an outlet from the wall (we don’t use this), and another is for the ceiling fan. And I found out today that all the triple switch order varies. Without an explanation of what they do, I will never know how it works.
Another switch/button that I use most often is in the car. We purchased a brand new Equinox two years ago. When we first had the car, everything was unfamiliar. The cruise setting was on the opposite of what we had before, but it was okay. But the problem is the buttons and knobs for the temperature. Every time I want to control the heat, I have to look at the switches to see which one is which. Even now.
The most confusing part is in the middle eight buttons. The top three buttons show where the airflow in the car. I get this part. And there are air intensity buttons in the center. For this, I have to look at which one is which while I’m driving. Also, the most significant problem with these buttons is that I have to look at the screen or tiny led lights in between airflow and air intensity buttons. And to turn off the air conditioner, I have to look at which button to turn off.
If I were a designer, I would put them separately or put small bumps or ridges on the button to indicate a power button like on the keyboard. Also, I would put the indicator inside of the driver’s screen instead of led lights.
Another problem is in the back seat. There are two buttons side by side that can heat the seat. But because they are so tiny and hard to recognize the icons, I can’t tell which one is which. The one on the left heats back and the butt and one on the right heats the back of the seat.
Conclusion
Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable. — The Design of Everyday Things
When there was a design error, I most likely blamed for myself and thought it was my fault of misunderstanding. But as I read this book, it helped me to think about what are good designs and bad designs in our daily life.
Not only that, I’ve learned a lot about usability and accessibility from my dad. When he fixes things at home, he always thinks of what bothers us. For example, in our house, we don’t wear shoes. Unlike American houses, in Korea, there are shoe shelves by the entryway. People take off shoes in every home and live in bare feet.
But because there is no entryway like this, he built shoe shelves on the garage wall and made an entryway with leftover carpets. It may not look so pretty, but for us, it’s very usable and comfortable to use.
The good design doesn’t have to look pleasing, but at least it has to be easy to use.
