The Design of Everyday Things

The way Norman discussed deficiencies in human-machine interaction was fascinating. I believed that the lack of understanding of principles necessary for effective human-machine interaction was the fault of the person on the other end who was using the machine. I always believed that the lack of understanding resulted from the lack of education on technological use. Norman explained how deficiency in human-machine interaction occurs because the design is done by engineers, who are experts in technology but limited in their understanding of people. This seemed so blindly obvious but I could not grasp why I hadn’t thought of this earlier. Engineers tend to think they understand people because they are people themselves, however those who have studied human behaviour understand how amazingly complex it is. It was intriguing to read that difficulties in effective human-machine interaction was caused the technology and not the people. It was also interesting to read the paradox of technology towards the end, the same technology that simplifies life also complicates life by making the device harder to learn and use. It made me realise that good design is not solely limited to the understanding of technology, it goes beyond that, to the understanding of psychology.

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