Even though you're a lot smarter and you have ten fine tuned fingers. Have you ever struggled to open a simple door? The chances are 100%. Unless you grew up and live here where there are no doors. Norman Doors. What is the difference between good and bad design? How can such a simple thing as a door be confusing?
Those of us who live active lives in large cities experience poorly designed doors every single day. We have trouble opening doors. We push doors that were meant to be pulled. We pull doors that are meant to be pushed. We walk right into doors that we can never pull nor push, but that slide. These doors are named Norman Doors. They signal that you should do the opposite
of what you're actually supposed to do, and they need a sign to correct it. Norman Doors are named after Don Norman, who coined the term user experience. Don Norman wrote the legendary book The Design of Everyday Things. He's a professor of psychology, cognitive science and computer science and worked as a vice president of Advanced Technology at Apple and as a design executive at HP.
Yet he still struggles to walk through a simple door, just like the rest of us. Don Norman helps us understand, but it's not usually us who are the problem, but poorly designed doors or poorly designed apps or poorly designed microwaves or poorly designed nuclear power plants, which are the problem. The fundamental design problem is that discoverability and understanding fail.
Discoverability is essential in all designs. You must design the relevant components so they are visible and communicate the right message to people who use your products and services. So how can you design for discoverability and understanding? The Golden rule is to always consider what actions are possible. Ask yourself, Is it possible to figure out where and how they should be performed?
Make sure that it's easy to discover and understand what to do. How is the product's supposed to be used? What do the different controls and settings mean with those that people push? You must provide signals and signifiers that intuit heavily indicate to push and where to push. Put a vertical plate on the side with doors that people pull. You must put a door handle that naturally indicates to pull.
These are natural signals. Humans can naturally interpret and understand them. Make it obvious what to do. Humans, and perhaps even cats naturally know what to do. No labels needed. With complex devices, discoverability and understanding can require guidance from manuals, instructions, or even courses. That's okay, but only if it's necessary. But with simple things, this is not good enough.
It's a mistake made by lazy or ignorant design teams. And we trust that's not you and your team. So let's rid the world of frustrating doors, frustrating interfaces, and overcomplicated designs. Let's rid the world of unnecessary manuals. Let's create products that are easy to understand and make our lives smoother and easier. Whenever possible. It's not about magic.
It's about us designers and learning and implementing essential design skills. You can use these insights when you design apps, websites, services, household machines, or whatever your design. Sign up for our courses. Learn from top design specialists. Get your certificate. It's industry recognized. Interaction Design Foundation.