Why do people err? Because the designs focus upon the requirements of the system and the machines, and not upon the requirements of people.
When people err, change the system so that type of error will be reduced or eliminated. When complete elimination is not possible, redesign to reduce the impact.
When people are anxious they tend to narrow their thought processes, concentration upon aspects directly relevant to a problem. This is a useful strategy in escaping from danger, but not in thinking o...
What appears good in principle can sometimes fail when introduced to the world. Sometimes, bad products succeed and good products fail. The world is complex.
We have become dependent upon our technologies to navigate the world, to hold intelligent conversation, to write intelligently, and to remember.
We bridge the Gulf of Execution through the use of signifiers, constraints, mappings, and a conceptual model. We bridge the Gulf of Evaluation through the use of feedback and a conceptual model.
To understand products, it is not enough to understand design or technology: it is critical to understand business.
This double diverge-converge pattern was first introduced in 2005 by the British Design Council, which called it the double-diamond design process model.
The vicious cycle starts: if you fail at something, you think it is your fault. Therefore you think you can’t do that task. As a result, next time you have to do the task, you believe you can’t, so yo...
The action cycle can start from the top, by establishing a new goal, in which case we call it goal-driven behavior. In this situation, the cycle starts with the goal and then goes through the three st...
Technology does not make us smarter. People do not make technology smart. It is the combination of the two, the person plus the artifact, that is smart. Together, with our tools, we are a powerful com...
Standardization is indeed the fundamental principle of desperation: when no other solution appears possible, simply design everything the same way, so people only have to learn once.
Standardization is indeed the fundamental principle of desperation: when no other solution appears possible, simply design everything the same way, so people only have to learn once. If
Skeuomorphic is the technical term for incorporating old, familiar ideas into new technologies, even though they no longer play a functional role. Skeuomorphic designs are often comfortable for tradit...
Rule of thumb: if you think something is clever and sophisticated beware-it is probably self-indulgence.
Radical innovation is what many people seek, for it is the big, spectacular form of change. But most radical ideas fail, and even those that succeed can take decades and, as this chapter has already i...
Question everything. I am particularly fond of stupid questions. A stupid question asks about things so fundamental that everyone assumes the answer is obvious.
Procedural knowledge is difficult or impossible to write down and difficult to teach. It is best taught by demonstration and best learned through practice.
Principles of design:1. Use both knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head.2. Simplify the structure of tasks.3. Make things visible: bridge gulfs between Execution and Evaluation.4. Get the ma...
Predicting technology is relatively easy compared to predictions of human behavior, or in this case, the adoption of societal conventions. Will this prediction be true? You