“The Psychopathology of everyday things”

The author talks about the frustrations facing everyday designs. He illustrates a variety of examples of poorly designed products, making you wondering and analyzing objects around you. He believes: “When simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed.” The fundamental principles of Design for Understandability and Usability are providing a good conceptual model and making things visible. In the rest of his work, the author shares his observations critiquing daily used products.

The author continues by explaining the principle of “mapping” which is defined by “a technical term meaning the relationship between two things; between the controls and their movements and the results in the world.” Then, the principle of “feedback” is explained as the action of “sending back to the user information about what action has actually been done, what result has been accomplished.”

Before creating a perfect product it usually takes 5 or 6 attempts to get it right. The functionality needs to be tested and improve until entire satisfaction.