What makes some designs good and others bad? Why do some designs work while others don’t? Posts in this category offer thoughtful design critiques of modern digital interfaces, with commentary inspired by Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things.”
The app I chose to critique is Slack, similar to Discord, you may establish your own server and invite your friends to join; you may also publish important links or notifications inside your server so everyone can hear from you, whereas others are also welcome to shoot messages into your server so you guys can
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Resy is a restaurant reservation app simplifying the reservation process. In the app users can find reservation options, access guides, connect with dining companions, and curate customized lists of places to eat, drink, and experience all in one place. Let’s explore what the app gets right and places it falls short using Norman’s design principles.
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Figure 1. Blind soccer players using a sound-emitting ball in a match, wearing eyeshades for fairness. A sound-emitting soccer balls is an assistive technology designed to support soccer players who are blind or have low vision. Every time the product comes into contact with a player or a wall, it features audible cues that allow
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Measure is a pre-installed utility on the iPhone that enables users to quickly gauge the size of real-world objects, measure a person’s height, and automatically detect the dimensions of rectangles. This article critiques the Measure app through the lens of Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things, analyzing its interface against key usability principles. First
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Splitwise is an expense-sharing application designed to help groups track and settle shared costs efficiently. While it serves various collaborative scenarios, it is a mobile-only application. This article critiques its interface through the lens of Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things. 1. Color-coded Balances Splitwise provides a great example of bridging the Gulf of
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Prime Video is a membership-based subscription streaming service by Amazon that offers movies, TV shows and live TV. Access requires an Amazon Prime membership and add-on subscription are available as well on Prime Video, which allow users to stream across devices and outline downloads. X-Ray Prime Video has a unique feature of “X-Ray”, which is
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Spotify’s iOS app enables users to discover, organize, and listen to music and podcasts through personalized playlists and libraries. The app emphasizes ongoing discovery through recommendations based on listening behavior, while supporting common tasks such as searching, saving, downloading, and sharing audio. Login Page When initially opening the app, Spotify prompts users to create an
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Adobe Lightroom is a computer program geared toward photographers that allows users to organize, touch up, and edit large amounts of photos. Importantly, edits are non-destructive – meaning that edits are saved as instructions rather than modifying the original image. Importing Photos To import images, Lightroom opens up your computer’s local file management system, easily
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The “Magnifier” is an accessibility utility by Apple that uses the device cameras to assist visually-impaired people with their immediate surroundings. The primary feature of the app is “magnify” – which seeks to assist users read small text. It has many other features too – including scene descriptions, and furniture/door detection. Discussing the app through
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Assistive Technology: Home Blood Pressure Monitors Nowadays, HBPM(house blood pressure monitor) has become a common part of everyday households, especially those with older adults or people managing hypertension. By enabling blood pressure measurement outside clinical settings, this kind of AT(assistive technology) devices support routine health monitoring and allow users to manage their well-being more independently
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