The Design of Everyday Things

1. The Design of Everyday Things Design Psychology (POET) Psychopathology

2. "we don't want the door to wear out"

3. designing for people • Create a good conceptual model - controls should look like they control something • (problem space reflected in the solution space) http://www.baddesigns.com/doors.html http://www.baddesigns.com/3doors.html • Make things visible • e.g. faucet that doubles as a shower control http://www.baddesigns.com/shower1.html • Mapping - one to one, spatial, a clear path • Feedback.... ATM example

5. Visibility • User needs visual and oftentimes auditory indication that the system is behaving properly • membrane keypads • elevator at Dallas airport • Natural mapping between objects allows the users to complete a task without consciously figuring out how the system works. http://www.baddesigns.com/knife.html

6. Mapping • The relationship between two or more things http://www.baddesigns.com/manylts.html • Spatial (stove top) http://www.baddesigns.com/ranges.html

7. http://www.baddesigns.com/brake-release.html http://www.baddesigns.com/boombox.html

8. http://gizmodo.com/5844628/a-passenger-airplane-nearly-flew-upside-down-because-of-a-dumb-pilothttp://gizmodo.com/5844628/a-passenger-airplane-nearly-flew-upside-down-because-of-a-dumb-pilot

9. Laziness?

10. Execution and Mental Models • Providing a good conceptual model of how something works, helps the user to operate a device properly http://www.baddesigns.com/dorothy.html • Each person may have a different mental model of how to complete some task. People who grew up on analog watches... http://www.baddesigns.com/lampsw.html • Design has to be a common model for all.

11. GUIs… • There should be only one way to get to something • You should only be able to traverse backwards the way that you came

12. GUIs • There is a difference between the FIRST time that you use a GUI, and the 100th. • Which should you program for? • Don’t favor either.

14. form over function • http://www.lingscars.com/ • http://www.mrbottles.com/ • http://cavs.mit.edu/ - some irony here • http://www.reforms.net/ • http://www.reforms.net/index2.html

15. Is your intent clear? http://www.baddesigns.com/autoicons.html http://www.baddesigns.com/copier.html http://www.baddesigns.com/pushto.html http://jalopnik.com/5044869/americas-10-most-confusing-traffic-signs

16. GUIs • A tendency to add frills • A tendency to add configurability ($$?) • Everyone who reviews your GUI will think you are wrong, and they are right. • Everyone relies on their own personal history • Design VERY neutral GUIs

17. Repeated misuse is a good indicator http://www.baddesigns.com/path.html http://www.baddesigns.com/sidewalk.html http://www.baddesigns.com/numbers.html (note the attempt to fix a bad design with a “sticker”). http://www.baddesigns.com/rstdoor.html

19. 7 stages of action What we’d like • form the goal (picture the end result) Acting • form the intention (action toward a goal) • specify the action (without ambiguity) • execute the action (no fear of failure) Feedback • perceive the state of the world (feedback) • interpret the state of the world (what feedback means) • evaluate the outcome (degree of success)

20. Information is in the world - knowledge of and knowledge how is part of our cultural upbringing. Use it. - navigating a map, using a keyboard, opening a door, etc. • “universal indicators” http://www.baddesigns.com/dontgo.html • Great precision is not required - GUIs need not detail every move nor give power over every variable (MS Word mystery colors)

21. The power of constraints – too much freedom? Can you PREVENT a mistake? http://www.baddesigns.com/slippery.html (push or turn?) http://www.baddesigns.com/faucet2.html • The conspiracy against memory - how many passwords do you need? How many numbers are you expected to remember? http://www.baddesigns.com/streetsn.html

22. How many times have you left your headlights on? Left the refrigerator door open? Programmed the microwave for 120 minutes? Recorded the wrong TV program? Ran out of gas? Locked your keys in your car? Lost the remote control? Banged your head? How much responsibility is ours?

23. who is at fault for user error? • how well did the designer constrain the user? http://www.baddesigns.com/coffee_rs2.html http://www.baddesigns.com/markercap.html users often blame themselves, when it is the designer’s fault • design must anticipate user error • an important action must be reversible http://www.baddesigns.com/phone.html iPod shuffle – erases your music if you plug it into a computer other than the one it is “synched” to…

24. social pressure • putting aesthetics first - designer buildings, designer anything • designers are not typical users / users are not designers • creeping featurism

26. Engineers in Society How are engineers viewed in society? - our exposure is through our design

27. sawblade/dogfood - http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/ http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001217.html • strange keyboard http://www.computersight.com/Hardware/Accessories/10-Strange-Keyboards.70082 • http://www.pcworld.com/article/157652/pc_world_picks_the_worst_products_of_all_time.html • insane watch - http://www.tokyoflash.com/en/watches/kisai/sensai/ • Pomegranate - http://www.pomegranatephone.com/ • Apple Wheel - http://www.theonion.com/content/node/92328 •    make sure you go to the Cadie-produced web page http://mail.google.com/mail/help/autopilot/index.html • halfway thru and I still thought it was real. http://my.opera.com/community/blog/face-the-future • rabbit ears : http://www.milk.com/wall-o-shame/dish.html • bad door design - http://failblog.org/2009/04/03/door-fail-3/ • hidden cell phone tower http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/04/03/gallery-cell-phone-towers-pretending-to-be-trees/

28. Good design http://www.jnd.org/GoodDesign.html http://inhabitat.com/2010/09/16/life-sack-solves-drinking-water-issues-for-the-third-world/

30. phones • Pomegranate - http://www.pomegranatephone.com/ • Good design: http://www.phonebloks.com

31. Good design: so how much will it cost? • maintenance is usually 80% of the total software lifecycle cost (per an IBM study). Saving that is free money. • design and testing are often cut to reduce costs, producing the opposite effect! • if your schedule or budget is type, you CANNOT afford to skip design

32. it’s all in the specs • immerse yourself in the problem space • empathy • test during the entire dream curve (or whatever methodology you use) with the user in mind • users are not always the same as "customers" or "clients"

33. Engineers… • Think and create • Find simple and elegant solutions to complex problems • Simplicity is to be encouraged • Complexity is to be discouraged • Why?

34. How Do Software-based Projects Fail? (note: not Why, but How) • Unhappy Customer – do not get what they expect or expect what they get • Ran out of time and $$ • Unhappy user • Safety compromised, including death • Technically inadequate or over-adequate • Does not contribute to the company business case • Burned out employees • Menace to Society