2/15/07 - Everyday Thing: Book

Object: A Book

Object Example:
“The Design of Everyday Things” - Norman

Design Flaw:
The biggest design flaw that I can think of is the function of the book is very dependent on cultural experience.

• You need to know the language to orient the book up and down


• You need to know the culture to know if the book should be read left to right, front to back


• On the outside there are no clear instructions that you should open the book to read.
  

Why it works:
Affordances:
Paper – The book is constructed of paper whose primary property is to be flexible. Flexible items invite bending, flipping, and “TURNING”.

Visually:

• If the user does know the cultural markers (language/reading model), then the use of the book is very intuitive.


• It follows the standards used by many other items in the culture (all printed material).
  The design of the front cover (large inviting graphics and text) orients the user to begin there.
• In the case of the example “The Design of Everyday Things,” based on the visual weight and hierarchy of the cover design it must be assumed that the importance of the cover design elements are from most to least:
• Title
• Tom Peter’s quote
• 100,000 copies sold
• Author Name
• Author’s previous books


• The Table of Content correctly maps to the use of page numbering.
• The consistent use of font styles orients the user to chapter titles, emphasized words
• Copy correctly notes to diagrams via an easy to understand numbering system.
  

Mappings:

• The Cover tells us pertinent information that maps to content contained inside Story summary Author and author’s previous books
• i.e – Expectations are set at the cover that are fulfilled inside.
  

Constraints:

• The binding on the left hand side forces the user to open the read the book properly (if the book is being held in the proper position)
• The amount of content are large contributors to the size of the book (font size – which is set by legibility standards and page size – set by publishing standards determine the number of pages)

Feedback:
Once user begins to read the copy and then comes to the end of a page, when the user takes the action to “turn the page” the feedback that they have taken the correct action is finding that the copy continues on as expected on the next page.