The Design of Everyday Things

Even though this book was originally written in the 80s, many of the concepts of user interfaces still applies today. Since the title was dealing with everyday things, his examples were simple to understand. The door problem, such as pushing on the wrong end or pushing instead of pulling happens to the best of us. Other examples are more complex than the door problem, but his point remains clear: if the design is poorly design, then even the smartest will have troubles using it. He also makes another point about feedback to the designers. If it looks simple, or if the user has the instructions on how to use the interface, and yet, they have troubles, they would most likely not report the troubles to the designers, due to embarrassment. In the door example, whenever i mess up using a door, I think "I hope no one saw that" Finally, he gives some pointers on how to improve design. However, many new products still makes the same mistake as before. This can also be due to the consumers, who continually buy the cheaper product, which has the worse design. So the manufacturers believe that this is what the people want.