![Preview of The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/416Hql52NCL.jpg)
updated 1mo ago
updated 1mo ago
When people use something, they face two gulfs: the Gulf of Execution, where they try to figure out how it operates, and the Gulf of Evaluation, where they try to figure out
CONCEPTUAL MODELS A conceptual model is an explanation, usually highly simplified, of how something works. It doesn’t have to be complete or even accurate as long as it is useful.
But as soon as there is a problem or a misunderstanding, the problems arise.
An affordance is a relationship between the properties of an object and the capabilities of the agent that determine just how the object could possibly be used.
Designers need to focus their attention on the cases where things go wrong, not just on when things work as planned. Actually, this is where the most satisfaction can arise: when something goes wrong but the machine highlights the problems, then the person understands the issue, takes the proper actions, and the problem is solved.
Getting the specification of the thing to be defined is one of the most difficult parts of the design, so much so that the HCD principle is to avoid specifying the problem as long as possible but instead to iterate upon repeated approximations.
The signifier is an important communication device to the recipient, whether or not communication was intended.
Many people find affordances difficult to understand because they are relationships, not properties.
Too much feedback can be even more annoying than too little. My dishwasher likes to beep at three a.m. to tell me that the wash is done, defeating my goal of having it work in the middle of the night so as not to disturb anyone (and to use less expensive electricity). But worst of all is inappropriate, uninterpretable feedback.
1. Discoverability. It is possible to determine what actions are possible and the current state of the device. 2. Feedback. There is full and continuous information about the results of actions and the current state of the product or service. After an action has been executed, it is easy to determine the new state. 3. Conceptual model. The design p
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