Norman 3 Course Blog Entry 10/1

Norman 3 Course Blog Entry
Chapter 6
The author in chapter 6 “The Design Challenge” introduces evolutionary design and tells us how now-a-days the designers have been designing the new models which are disaster for the consumer. The author tells us that the new models are mostly already into their design process before the old ones are even launched. Just because of the reason that the new design should be distinctive and different then the one designed before, the designers are making the design process complicated and hard for consumers to understand.
The author uses the examples of typewriters, faucets to explain his thoughts.
The author tells us that the designers go astray because they put aesthetics first, designers aren’t typical users, and the designer clients may not be users.
Norman talks about the design challenges faced by computers by the end of the chapter and explain beautifully how the computer of the future will look like.

Chapter 7
The chapter 7 “User-Centered Design” is more like a summary or conclusion of the book. In this chapter, Norman summarizes the main principles, discusses some implications, and offer suggestions for the design of everyday things. He tells us that the design of the product should be implemented by keeping the following in mind:
Make it easy to determine what actions are possible at any moment
Make things visible, including the conceptual model of the system, the alternative actions and the results of actions
Make it easy to evaluate the current state of the system
Follow natural mappings between intentions and the required actions; between actions and the resulting effect; and between the information that is visible and the interpretation of the system state

He then tells us seven principles for transforming difficult tasks into simple onces which are:
Use both knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head.
Simplify the structure of tasks
Make things visible: bridge the gulfs of execution and evaluation
Get the mappings right.
Exploit the power of constraints, both natural and artificial
Design for error.
When all else fails, standardize.