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September 28, 2005
Donald Norman
Norman is great. I read most of design of everyday things before I got to ITP and it’s neat to read ‘emotion and design’ as the continuation to his earlier ideas. He comes across as so reasonable and down to earth it makes me wonder if he isn’t slipping something by.
Everything comes back to emotion. If a particular tool makes us feel good we will forgive certain usability or design flaws. This ‘feeling good’ is completely relative to the individual. A certain item may make one person feel good because it is easy to use and someone else feel good because it is pleasurable to look at. Function is not necessarily the primary ratings scale. Since there is no single proper way to use anything, people will overlook glaring usability issues with an item if it balances out on the aesthetic end. Of course there are always the manufacturer’s suggestions on proper use but with multiple affordances, re-appropriation is common.
I think it’s interesting that designers may not want to make a tool which generates too much positive affect. It could be argued that creative is a positive of any task or conversely too much creativity, say with something like surgery, may be a negative. In that case the implement might be better suited to have less positive affect.
Attractive Things Work Better
Design of Everyday Things
Posted by mb2811 at September 28, 2005 03:30 AM