Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Microblog #1, "Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 1"

Summary: The author spends this chapter discussing what he believes to be unnecessary complexity in everyday items. Examples used ranged from telephones to refrigerators to cars to doors. Elements cited as contributing to positive design prominently feature functionality easily deduced visually.

Discussion: The author makes a good point; many devices I am around everyday have functions I either don't know how to or don't care to use. I did note a couple things I think to be relevant. First, I think that a lot of design complexity comes from the designers assuming that the user either has or can easily acquire some degree of their proficiency with the device, and either fail to realize just how much they know, or overestimate the amount of time users are willing to invest in learning the system. Second, I think in many cases there are many functions that the majority of users simply wouldn't care to use that may be contributing to the situation without being really unintuitive.

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