The Design of Everyday Things: Donald Norman

"The Design of Everyday Things"

Finished in 2007
It took me ages to finish this - I think that I started it last September - but it turned out there was only one more chapter to read, which summarises the rest of the book. I was reading it principally from the point of view of design for user interfaces. The book was written in 1988 and is more concerned with the design of physical objects, however the principles are just as relevant now as then - and it's interesting to see just how things have moved on in the area of computers since 1988 (the discussion of hypertext in the concluding chapter is particularly interesting). Also I think that it's still a revolutionary concept nearly twenty years later that "user error" might be a result of poor design. It's made me look again not only at the design of everyday things in my own life, but also at some of the procedures and routines that I have. I really recommend this book.

You can find out more about Donald Norman at the Nielsen Norman Group website.