Winograd Ch. 12: Design as Practiced Charles Reid 1/26/05

Donald Norman “My expertise is in understanding the relationship between people and technology: the social and human components of design, experience, and everyday life.” Former Apple Fellow and VP of Advanced Technology Group. Currently professor of Computer Science, Psychology, and Cognitive Sciences at Northwestern University Professor emeritus at UC San Diego (retired but retaining a professional title). Teaching this winter with Terry Winograd at Stanford (Evolution of Ideas and Products) Has written several books and essays about design (not just software design).

Ch 12 - Design as Practiced Design as Practiced is different from design as idealized.  Constrained by Cost Existing design language Organizational issues (communication) Conflicting needs Safety regulations User Input

Macintosh Power Switch Placement of the power switch on Apple’s Macintosh computers was inconsistent One model had the button under the floppy drive slot. Norman headed up a committee to address the inconsistency of the power switch placement

The Problem System design wasn’t centralized  Entry systems, business systems, desktop systems, and portables. Each group addressed the power switch in the way that suited them best.

Problems in Finding a Solution Safe shutdown  The power switch had to compliment the safe shutdown but not be used instead of it. Existing design Language  Users of the different types of systems grow used to those systems Conflicting Requirements  Cost, target user, etc… Macintosh culture – emphasis on ease of use  “Putting the burden on the user to do a task properly goes against the culture of the Macintosh community.”

The Solution Keep the shutdown menu option Use a button on the keyboard to turn the system on. If the power is already on, the button on the keyboard will initiate a shutdown dialog Use a switch on the back of the system to turn power completely off

What Was Learned The company’s culture and the assumptions that go along with it imposed unspoken constraints on the problem. Organizational structure matters  Centralized structure is good for some business purposes but bad for others “When you are asked to solve a problem, look beyond it.”

Profile: The Design of Everyday Things The key to designing things that people can use well is to observe how people interact with things. Norman is critical of the machine centered view of things.  In this view we blame ourselves when interaction with artifacts goes wrong. We should design things and populate our worl with things that make us smart.

Profile: The Design of Everyday Things People Are  Vague  Disorganized  Distractible  Emotional  Illogical Machines Are  Precise  Orderly  Un-distractible  Unemotional  Logical Machine Centered View

Profile: The Design of Everyday Things People Are  Creative  Compliant  Attentive to Change  Resourceful  Able to make flexible decisions based on context Machines Are  Dumb  Rigid  Insensitive to Change  Unimaginative  Constrained to make consistent decisions People Centered View