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A review by gautamgopalk
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition written by American researcher Don Norman was published in 2013. This is a revised edition from the original book published in 1988 and as the author mentions in the preface, when many of the original examples given in the book became outdated, he ended up rewriting the entire book. This book is like an introductory text in the field of design as it touches on various aspects of design and the interactions between humans and objects. There is an emphasis on first principles and how one should think when it comes to design.
The first few sections have a lot of (hilarious) examples of bad design in everyday objects that we encounter in the real world. The author makes a very good case for the need for good design and how one should go about it. As the book progresses, it gets more technical and often times verbose. Some of the content drags on for a while and can get really boring. Despite the parts that are disengaging, the topics presented in the book are mildly interesting for the casual reader and probably useful for everyone to think about even if the reader's job doesn't have anything to do with design.
The first few sections have a lot of (hilarious) examples of bad design in everyday objects that we encounter in the real world. The author makes a very good case for the need for good design and how one should go about it. As the book progresses, it gets more technical and often times verbose. Some of the content drags on for a while and can get really boring. Despite the parts that are disengaging, the topics presented in the book are mildly interesting for the casual reader and probably useful for everyone to think about even if the reader's job doesn't have anything to do with design.