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The Design of Everyday Things
Don Norman
The TL;DR
Why do doors confuse us? Why do we push when we should pull? Norman's classic introduces the foundational vocabulary of interaction design: affordances (what actions an object suggests), signifiers (the cues that tell you where to act), feedback (the response that confirms your action worked), mapping (the spatial correspondence between controls and their effects), and constraints (the physical, logical, and cultural limits that prevent errors). When something goes wrong, blame the design — not the user. Good design provides immediate, clear feedback. Controls should correspond spatially to what they control. The book permanently changes how you see every object, interface, and system around you.
Core ideas
- 1Affordances tell the user what's possible; signifiers tell them where.
- 2Good design provides immediate, clear feedback for every action.
- 3Mapping: controls should correspond to what they control in space.
- 4When something goes wrong, design is to blame — not the user.
- 5Constraints help users — show what NOT to do.
Key quotes
"If a door needs a sign, the design has failed."
"It is the duty of machines and those who design them to understand people."
"Two of the most important characteristics of good design are discoverability and understanding."
Apply it this week
- →Audit your UI for places that require a label to be usable.
- →Add immediate, visible feedback to every clickable element.
- →Stop blaming users in bug triage — fix the affordance.
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