My toxic trait is that I believe anybody who builds anything should be required to read this book pic.twitter.com/XgRGrSw6Pk
— Jake (@JustJake) May 28, 2025
Summary of The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
Donald A. Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things is a seminal work in design and usability, exploring why some products frustrate users while others feel intuitive. Originally published in 1988 (as The Psychology of Everyday Things), the book remains a cornerstone for designers, engineers, and anyone interested in creating user-friendly objects and systems. Norman, a cognitive scientist and usability expert, argues that good design prioritizes human psychology and usability over aesthetics or technological complexity. Below is a summary of the key concepts.
The Core of Good Design: Putting Humans First
In The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman emphasizes that effective design makes objects, tools, and systems intuitive and enjoyable to use. Poor design, on the other hand, leads to frustration, errors, and inefficiency. Norman introduces a human-centered design philosophy, rooted in understanding how people think, perceive, and interact with the world.
Key Principles of Design
- Affordances: Objects should visually suggest how they can be used. For example, a door handle should imply pulling, while a flat plate suggests pushing. Affordances are the possible actions a user perceives based on an object’s design. When affordances are unclear (e.g., a door with no visible handle), users struggle.
- Signifiers: These are cues that communicate how to use an object. A well-placed arrow or label on a button is a signifier, guiding the user to the correct action. Good signifiers make affordances obvious, reducing confusion.
- Feedback: Users need immediate, clear feedback to know if their actions worked. For instance, a light turning on when a switch is flipped confirms the action. Without feedback, users are left guessing, leading to errors.
- Discoverability: A good design allows users to figure out what actions are possible and how to perform them. This depends on clear affordances, signifiers, and feedback working together.
- Conceptual Models: Users form mental models of how things work based on their interactions. Good design aligns an object’s appearance and behavior with the user’s expectations, making the system predictable and easy to understand.
- Constraints: Designs should limit incorrect actions. Physical constraints (e.g., a USB plug that only fits one way) or cultural constraints (e.g., red for “stop”) guide users toward correct usage.
- Mapping: The relationship between controls and their outcomes should feel natural. For example, turning a steering wheel right should make a car turn right. Poor mapping, like a stove with knobs that don’t clearly correspond to burners, causes confusion.
The Psychology of Errors
Norman explains that many user “mistakes” are actually design flaws. He distinguishes between slips (unintentional errors, like pressing the wrong button) and mistakes (errors from misunderstanding the system). Designers can minimize these by anticipating human behavior and building forgiving systems. For example, confirmation prompts prevent accidental deletions.
The Seven Stages of Action
Norman outlines a model of how people interact with objects, known as the Seven Stages of Action:
- Forming a goal (e.g., “I want coffee”).
- Planning (e.g., “I’ll use the coffee machine”).
- Specifying an action (e.g., “Press the brew button”).
- Performing the action (e.g., pressing the button).
- Perceiving the outcome (e.g., seeing coffee pour).
- Interpreting the outcome (e.g., “The machine is working”).
- Comparing the outcome to the goal (e.g., “I got my coffee”).
Designs fail when any stage is unclear or unsupported, breaking the user’s flow.
Why Bad Design Happens
Norman critiques designs that prioritize aesthetics, cost, or engineering over usability. He cites examples like overly complex remote controls or doors that confuse users (the infamous “Norman doors”). He argues that designers often fail to test products with real users or consider diverse needs, leading to frustrating experiences.
Human-Centered Design in Practice
To create better products, Norman advocates for human-centered design:
- Observe users in real-world settings to understand their needs and behaviors.
- Iterate designs based on testing and feedback.
- Simplify interfaces to reduce cognitive load.
- Standardize where possible to leverage familiar patterns (e.g., consistent icons across apps).
He also emphasizes designing for diverse users, including those with disabilities, and accounting for stress or distractions that affect performance.
Broader Implications
Beyond physical objects, Norman’s principles apply to digital interfaces, software, and systems. The book’s insights have influenced fields like user experience (UX) design, human-computer interaction (HCI), and product development. For example, modern apps with clear buttons, intuitive navigation, and instant feedback reflect Norman’s ideas.
Takeaways for Designers and Users
The Design of Everyday Things is a call to action for designers to prioritize usability and empathy. For users, it’s empowering, revealing why some tools feel “wrong” and encouraging advocacy for better design. Norman’s core message is simple: good design makes life easier, while bad design creates unnecessary obstacles.
Why Read It?
This book is a must-read for anyone involved in creating products, from physical goods to apps. It’s also valuable for users who want to understand why some designs frustrate them. Norman’s engaging examples (like those tricky doors) and clear frameworks make complex ideas accessible. Though some examples feel dated (e.g., references to early computers), the principles are timeless, especially in today’s world of smart devices and digital interfaces.
By applying Norman’s ideas, we can build a world where technology serves humans, not the other way around.
The Design Of Everyday Things https://t.co/jOYWar5ozL
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 29, 2025
It is as awesome as you said. Mind blowing.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 4, 2025
— sarah guo // conviction (@saranormous) June 3, 2025
This is a brilliant piece of writing. I will let you invest in my startup. https://t.co/ZCi1DP8SSD
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 4, 2025
- Sarah Guo’s article defines taste as a competitive advantage in software, emphasizing intentional design in products like Stripe’s plain-English error messages and Spotify’s engineered shuffle algorithm.
- Taste goes beyond aesthetics, involving deep decisions in codebases, culture, and even cap tables, akin to a chef’s palate in crafting a Michelin-star meal.
- True taste requires sacrifice, such as rejecting features that don’t align with a product’s vision, even if they could expand market reach.
- In the AI era, taste enables sustainable speed by providing clarity in decision-making, reducing revisions and pivots.
- Companies with taste, like Linear and Figma, create products that feel inevitable, building trust and commanding premium pricing through coherence.
- Taste in go-to-market strategies ensures a unified voice across all customer touchpoints, from sales decks to support docs, enhancing perceived reliability.
- Early sales hires must embody the company’s taste, turning away wrong-fit customers and demoing the product’s philosophy, not just its features.
- Taste doesn’t scale automatically—it requires systems like founder oversight, hiring multipliers (e.g., designers who code), and tracking “delight debt” alongside technical debt.
- Taste-driven companies often remain founder-led longer to transmit judgment through apprenticeship, as taste is absorbed, not taught.
- While taste offers a compound advantage in competitive markets, companies like Salesforce show that solving critical problems can trump design in some industries.
Sarah Guo’s (@saranormous) article defines taste as a competitive advantage in software, emphasizing intentional design in products like Stripe’s plain-English error messages and Spotify’s engineered shuffle algorithm. 🧵👇
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 4, 2025
