Knowing What to Do: Constraints, Discoverability, and Feedback
APA: Norman, D. The design of everyday things. New York, NY: Basic Books.
4 Types of constraints
Physical
Constrain possible operations.
Rely on properties of the physical world for their operations, no special training required. (Norman, (2012).
Cultural
Each culture has its own set of allowable actions for social situations.
Can cause a significant issue in design
Social norms play a huge factor
Can change with time.
Semantic
Study of meaning.
Relies on the meaning of situations to control a set of possible actions.
rely upon our knowledge of the situation and the world.
Can change with time.
Logical
No physical or cultural principles are applied
There is a logical relationship between the spatial or functional layout of components and the things that they affect or are affected by
Cultural norms, conventions, and standards
Conventions help to shape a culture
Conventions are considered a cultural constraint
Cultural norms
"Affordances, signifiers, mappings and constraints can simplify our encounters with every day life (Norman, 2012, p. 132)".
Some behaviors that are appropriate in one place is not appropriate in others.
The lack of clear communication among the people and organizations constructing parts of a system is the most common cause of complicated, confusing designs.
"A usable design starts with careful observation of how the tasks being supported are actually performed, followed by a design process that results in a good fit to the actual ways the tasks get performed (Norman, 2012, p. 137)".
Activity-centered controls are the way to go if the activities are carefully selected to match actual requirements.
There are certain constraints that force desired behaviors.
Forcing functions are a form of physical contraints
Interlocks force an operation to take place in proper sequence.
Situations in one which the actions are constrained so that failure at one stage prevents the next step from happening.
Lock-ins keep an operation active, preventing someone from prematurely stopping it.
Lockouts keep someone in a space or prevent action until the desired operations have been done.
People tend to object when there is a change to an existing array of products and systems.
Consistency in design is virtuous.
Using sound a s signifier helps to make things more visable.
Sound can be tricky.
Provides feedback,
Reflection: This chapter hit on a lot of good points. I think my favorite point was how culture tends to impact design. It can be a constraint, but it can also help to drive design while impacting conventions. Often times, as designers, i think we tend to create a one size fits all training approach. I like that Norman has opened my eyes to creating training that is aware of constraints and how I can use them to my advantage in design. I also like how feedback seems to be a continuous theme he brings back. This is so important for us as designers as it should be used to improve design.