The essential guide to human-centered design
“Even more relevant today than it was when first published.”—Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door.
The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization.
The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time.
The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how—and why—some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
Intro to design sprinkled with jokes and relatable moments
"I truly loved this book! As someone who is interested in joining the UX Design/Research field, it served as a wonderful introduction to the most basic design concepts. It was recommended to me by two of my computer science professors and I really enjoyed the reading experience. It was engaging and funny with personal anecdotes while still transmiting all the important info regarding the design process."
