The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things is a best-selling book by cognitive scientist and usability engineer Donald Norman. Originally published in 1988 with the title The Psychology of Everyday Things, it is often referred to by the initialisms POET and DOET. A new preface was added in 2002 and a revised and expanded edition was published in 2013.

The book's premise is that design serves as the communication between object and user, and discusses how to optimize that conduit of communication in order to make the experience of using the object pleasurable. It argues that although people are often keen to blame themselves when objects appear to malfunction, it is not the fault of the user but rather the lack of intuitive guidance that should be present in the design.

Norman uses case studies to describe the psychology behind what he deems good and bad design, and proposes design principles. The book spans several disciplines including behavioral psychology, ergonomics, and design practice.

Contents
In the book, Norman introduced the term affordance as it applied to design, borrowing James J. Gibson's concept from ecological psychology. In the revised edition of his book in 2013, he also introduced the concept of signifiers to clarify his definition of affordances. Examples of affordances are doors that can be pushed or pulled. These are the possible interactions between an object and its user. Examples of corresponding signifiers are flat plates on doors meant to be pushed, small finger-size push-buttons, and long and rounded bars we intuitively use as handles. As Norman used the term, a door affords pushing or pulling, and the plate or button signals that it is meant to be pushed, while the bar or handle signals pulling. Norman discussed door handles at length.

He also popularized the term user-centered design, which he had previously referred to in User-Centered System Design in 1986. He used the term to describe design based on the needs of the user, leaving aside, what he deemed secondary issues like aesthetics. User-centered design involves simplifying the structure of tasks, making things visible, getting the mapping right, exploiting the powers of constraint, designing for error, explaining affordances, and seven stages of action. He went to great lengths to define and explain these terms in detail, giving examples following and going against the advice given and pointing out the consequences.

Other topics of the book include:


 * The Psychopathology of Everyday Things
 * The Psychology of Everyday Actions
 * Knowledge in the Head and in the World
 * Knowing What to Do
 * To Err Is Human
 * Human-Centered Design
 * The Design Challenge

Reception
After a group of industrial designers felt affronted after reading an early draft, Norman rewrote the book to make it more sympathetic to the profession.

The book was originally published with the title The Psychology of Everyday Things. In his preface to the 2002 edition, Norman has stated that his academic peers liked the original title, but believed the new title better conveyed the content of the book and better attracted interested readers.