The Design of Everyday Things (Chapter 1

Some thoughts about The Design of Everyday Things

I have read this book a few years ago. At that time, I have no idea what design is because I was a film student. I only know how to make people understand the meaning of my film. This time I read this book again, I felt I learn something on it. Making a film and doing design actually have something very similar, they both need to consider how other people feel. Nowadays, many products in our daily life have only good appearance but are not practical, they and have too many functions, and lack of obvious visibility. They all need more explicit psychological cues and visual experimentation.

To design a useful product, it needs to be practical as well as look good. Many designs only consider how it looks and not thinking about is it useful? It reminds me the faucet in my apartment is actually a beautiful but not practical design. I want to get water into the sink it will splash on me. When I turned it down, the water could only flow out of the sink. Designed in this way, the faucet is simple and compact, but it does not consider the user's feelings. In my opinion, to design a good product should do more research and experiment to find if the product is useful.

Nowadays people's life, electronic products have become an indispensable part. Young people can quickly become proficient in using an App based on their experience, which has become a problem for the elderly. My grandparents often ask me how to use some software, but because they don't use the software for a long time, they have many functions, and the problem of age, sometimes it is difficult to familiarize themselves with one kind of software, which is also a disadvantage of modern science and technology design. In fact, I think many software should be a simplified version, that is, there are not so many functions, the interface is simple and clear, so that those who are inexperienced in electronic products can quickly familiarize themselves with, and after they are familiar with, they can upgrade the version, access to more sophisticated versions.

There are some designs are lack obvious visibility. The door is a good example, people can not find a way to push or pull the door. It reminds me one time my roommate was locked in the common kitchen in the dorm and called me to help her out. The door is a screen door, the handle of the door is in a not obvious place, she could not find a place to open the door. And even though you find the place to open the door, it needs to push it harder to make it open. If people do not have the experience to open that door, no one knows the way to open it.

The screen door that is hard to find the handle

This chapter makes me learn that a designer should focus on the user’s feelings. Sometimes the designers are flowing their own way of thinking, but ignore most people's logical way of thinking. Is it useful? Is it easy to understand the usage? Will it works for most of the users? Those are the questions the designer should ask themselves after they have the idea of design.

September 13th, 2019