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From: nigam@MWSUN.MITRE.ORG
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: The Psychology of Everyday Things
Message-ID: <8909131645.AA16806@mwsun.mitre.org>
Date: 13 Sep 89 16:45:46 GMT
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Date:         Tue, 12 Sep 89 09:54:00 PDT
From:         Donald A Norman-UCSD Cog Sci Dept <norman%cogsci@UCSD.EDU>
Subject:      The Psychology of Everyday Things

A recent Software Engineering Digest commented on my book:

    I can't find it right now, but there is a book with a title something
    like "The Design of Everday Things" containing excellent discussions on
    the design (or lack thereof) of everything from hot/cold taps to
    computer software.  For example, if taps are arranged vertically, how do
    you know which is hot and which is not?  Highly recommended.  I will try
    to find the author and title if someone else does not beat me to it.

In the book, "The Psychology of Everyday Things" (POET) I argue that
everyday things are difficult for arbitrary and unnecessary reasons --
everyday things such as VCRs, digital watches, microwave ovens, and even
light switches and doors.  POET shows how to design things so that
everyday folks can use them.  It also contains a simple model of how
people perform actions.  This is a "trade book," aimed at the general
audience, but although it is simplified, it contains my latest thinking
on these issues.

   Norman, Donald A.  (1988).  "The Psychology of Everyday Things."
     New York: Basic Books.   ($19.95, hardcover)
   Norman, Donald A.  (1990).  "The Design of Everyday Things."
     New York: Doubleday.  (Paperback edition of POET, with new title
     and publisher -- publication expected somewhere around March, 1990.)

Don Norman                                     INTERNET:  dnorman@ucsd.edu
Department of Cognitive Science D-015          BITNET:    dnorman@ucsd
University of California, San Diego            AppleLink: D.NORMAN
La Jolla, California 92093 USA

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