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The Design of Everyday Things (revised and expanded edition)
Donald Norman
(UK: MIT Press, @mitpress, 2013; USA: Basic Books, @BasicBooks, 2013)
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious-even liberating-book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorisation.
The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time. The book is a powerful primer on how – and why – some products satisfy customers whilst others only frustrate them.
UK: Bookshop Search (independents) | Amazon
USA: NewPages (independents) | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Hummingbird (ebooks and audiobooks)
Canada: FindaBookstore.ca (independents) | Amazon | Indigo
India: Bookstores in India (independents) | Amazon | Flipkart | Goodreads | Infibeam | SapnaOnline
Ireland: Bookshop Search (independents) | Amazon
Australia: Bookshops.com.au (independents) | Amazon | Angus & Robertson | Booktopia | Dymocks | QBD Books
New Zealand: Find a Bookshop (independents) | Amazon | Dymocks | Paper Plus | Whitcoulls
South Africa: Bookshops (independents) | Amazon | Exclusive Books
Rest of the world: Book Depository | Wordery
Recommended by:
Christopher Norris, Director, Jolabokaflod CIC
Christopher launched his campaign to promote the Icelandic Jólabókaflóðið tradition in November 2015. This initiative took form as Jolabokaflod CIC, a not-for-profit showcase for book recommendations wrapped in Icelandic literary culture, and Jolabokaflod Book Campaign Ltd, a yet to launch commercial arm. Keep up to date with news and developments by signing up to the monthly Jolabokaflod newsletter and/or the Jolabokaflod platforms at Facebook and Twitter.
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