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.”
As a working student with a reasonable amount of loans on my back, I recently realized that I was in dire need of a way to track my spending. Like most people, I have multiple bank accounts and credit cards that I use to make my various payments and receive my deposits, not to mention …
Searching for a case of bad design as defined by Don Norman in his book The Design of Everyday Things proved to be far more difficult than finding a case of good design. This is likely due to Norman’s observation that users tend to falsely blame themselves rather than the design when something can’t be …
I believe that the user interface for Gmail is an example of good design. Using concepts discussed in Don Norman’s book, The Design of Everyday Things, and images of my own Gmail account, I will prove my statement. The first screen that you see offers many clues as to the proper operation of your account. …
SelfControl, the most intimidating icon in my laptop’s dock, is the key to my academic success, and, I will argue, an example of good design. It is a free, open source software that allows users to block their own access to websites for a set period of time. Procrastinating, compulsive checkers of social media can …