The Design of Everyday Things

Muy buen libro

This is essential and timeless reading for any designer. It's tough to get through, ironically because it's a book about usability and accessibility in design and it's just oceans upon oceans of text. But Donald Norman is brilliant and the ideas are sound. Consider that the original book was written long before the internet and that the revised edition in the late 90's or early 00's hadn't really gone out of date. The principles are still completely relevant and not dependent on fads or changing technology. If you are an artist, industrial designer, graphic designer, tech industry professional, or just a curious human, read this book. Don't let the Norman door hit you on the way out. (What does that even mean? Well, read the book and find out!)

This book, along with a few other things piqued my interest in the design field. It made me look at ordinary objects in a new way. It's been several years since I've read it, and I haven't looked back.

Ich habe mir dieses Buch gekauft, weil es mir in einem Podcast empfohlen wurde. Design ist unglaublich wichtig und dieses Buch erklärt sehr gut warum und auch wie man das praktisch umsetzen kann. Auch für neue Technologien und Software ist gutes, bedienbares Design unabdingbar. Der Autor beschreibt seine Ideen mit einfachen Worten und man interessiert sich für das, was er als Nächstes beibringen möchte. Kann das Buch jedem weiterempfehlen, der sich für Design interessiert.

Don Norman started his career an Electrical engineer, then went into Psychology, and finally something directly related to understanding effective design, he studied cognitive science. So, my point here is that Don is an engineer and a psychologist, but not a designer. Hence a lot of schematics and acronyms along the pages of this way too long and hard going book. Try explaining what Love is with a series of diagrams and acronyms, instead of using poetry, that is how this book goes by explaining effective design. BUT, do not get me wrong, this book is perfect to explain design to engineers and accountants... ie, people very far from instinctively understand what design is. It is good for people with a non-creative mind. But for design students and design professional, I do not think that this is the best book. It is still worth a read, but far from life changing. It is also way too long, with a lot of simple arguments repeated too many times, with way too long explanations, and demonstrations. This book could be written in a tenth of its size, and save paper. Still, most of the arguments proposed in this book are 100% valid, it is the way the information is analysed and delivered to you that is so painful, to me anyway. Some of my best friends are engineers, and let's face it; they are not normal people! (sic) Engineers and creatives live on different planets, and with that in mind, just be aware that this book is not tailored for the artistic/creative mind, but more toward the engineer that is about to design the control panel for a new washing machine, or a nuclear power plant. This is just my opinion, and I accept that I could be completely wrong.