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It is only at the reflective level that consciousness and the highest levels of feeling, emotions, and cognition reside. It is only here that the full impact of both thought and emotions are experienced. At the lower visceral and behavioral levels, there is only affect, but without interpretation or consciousness. Interpretation, understanding, and reasoning come from the reflective level.
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Donald A. Norman |
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27ff894
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A conceptual model is an explanation, usually highly simplified, of how something works. It doesn't have to be complete or even accurate as long as it is useful. The
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Donald A. Norman |
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d3c824a
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Because visceral design is about initial reactions, it can be studied quite simply by putting people in front of a design and waiting for reactions. In the best of circumstances, the visceral reaction to appearance works so well that people take one look and say "I want it." Then they might ask, "What does it do?" And last, "And how much does it cost?" This is the reaction the visceral designer strives for, and it can work. Much of traditio..
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Donald A. Norman |
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81ed041
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Cognition and emotion cannot be separated. Cognitive thoughts lead to emotions: emotions drive cognitive thoughts. The brain is structured to act upon the world, and every action carries with it expectations, and these expectations drive emotions. That is why much of language is based on physical metaphors, why the body and its interaction with the environment are essential components of human thought. Emotion is highly underrated. In fact,..
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Donald A. Norman |
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55d94fb
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day a product development process starts, it is behind schedule and above budget.
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Donald A. Norman |
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market-driven pressures plus an engineering-driven company yield ever-increasing features, complexity, and confusion. But even companies that do intend to search for human needs are thwarted by the severe challenges of the product development process, in particular, the challenges of insufficient time and insufficient money.
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Donald A. Norman |
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a639f34
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If the system lets you make the error, it is badly designed.
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Donald A. Norman |
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143a243
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Once again, the designer should assume that people will be interrupted during their activities and that they may need assistance in resuming their operations.
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Donald A. Norman |
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f86bb43
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Never underestimate the power of social pressures on behavior, causing otherwise sensible people to do things they know are wrong and possibly dangerous.
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Donald A. Norman |
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828f623
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During an incident, there are never clear clues. Many things are happening at once: workload is high, emotions and stress levels are high. Many things that are happening will turn out to be irrelevant. Things that appear irrelevant will turn out to be critical. The accident investigators, working with hindsight, knowing what really happened, will focus on the relevant information and ignore the irrelevant. But at the time the events were ha..
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Donald A. Norman |
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2e5617c
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Modern technology can be complex, but complexity by itself is neither good nor bad: it is confusion that is bad. Forget the complaints against complexity; instead, complain about confusion.
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Donald A. Norman |
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6286a52
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It is the duty of machines and those who design them to understand people.
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Donald A. Norman |
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As a rule, it takes time for information to get into LTM and time and effort to get it out again.
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Donald A. Norman |
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Perceived affordances help people figure out what actions are possible without the need for labels or instructions.
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Donald A. Norman |
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854d950
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It is possible to avoid failure, to always be safe. But that is also the route to a dull, uninteresting life.
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Donald A. Norman |
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3bf378a
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the proper natural mapping requires no diagrams, no labels, and no instructions.
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Donald A. Norman |
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d4f18db
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Even as simple a task as picking up a glass with the hand requires feedback to aim the hand properly, to grasp the glass, and to lift it. A misplaced hand will spill the contents, too hard a grip will break the glass, and too weak a grip will allow it to fall.
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Donald A. Norman |
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aab2f5f
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We have become dependent upon our technologies to navigate the world, to hold intelligent conversation, to write intelligently, and to remember.
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Donald A. Norman |
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c3d80c1
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Beauty comes from conscious reflection and experience. It is influenced by knowledge, learning, and culture. Objects that are unattractive on the surface can give pleasure. Discordant music, for example, can be beautiful. Ugly art can be beautiful.
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Donald A. Norman |
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0fb7920
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business that makes and sells durable goods faces a problem: As soon as everyone who wants the product has it, then there is no need for more.
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Donald A. Norman |
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65970ae
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Most of human behavior is a result of subconscious processes. We are unaware of them. As a result, many of our beliefs about how people behave--including beliefs about ourselves--are wrong. That is why we have the multiple social and behavioral sciences, with a good dash of mathematics, economics, computer science, information science, and neuroscience.
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Donald A. Norman |
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50af3a3
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We need to remove the word failure from our vocabulary, replacing it instead with learning experience. To fail is to learn: we learn more from our failures than from our successes. With success, sure, we are pleased, but we often have no idea why we succeeded. With failure, it is often possible to figure out why, to ensure that it will never happen again.
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Donald A. Norman |
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cade523
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We bridge the Gulf of Execution through the use of signifiers, constraints, mappings, and a conceptual model. We bridge the Gulf of Evaluation through the use of feedback and a conceptual model.
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Donald A. Norman |
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9e07686
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Each culture has a set of allowable actions for social situations. Thus, in our own culture we know how to behave in a restaurant-- even one we have never been to before. This is how we manage to cope when our host leaves us alone in a strange room, at a strange party, with strange people. And this is why we sometimes feel frustrated, so incapable of action, when we are confronted with a restaurant or group of people from an unfamiliar cult..
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Donald A. Norman |
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7472598
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Semantics is the study of meaning. Semantic constraints are those that rely upon the meaning of the situation to control the set of possible actions.
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Donald A. Norman |
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c0a8a05
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Logical constraints are often used by home dwellers who undertake repair jobs. Suppose you take apart a leaking faucet to replace a washer, but when you put the faucet together again, you discover a part left over. Oops, obviously there was an error: the part should have been installed. This is an example of a logical constraint.
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Donald A. Norman |
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81d7413
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Conventions are actually a form of cultural constraint, usually associated with how people behave. Some conventions determine what activities should be done; others prohibit or discourage actions. But in all cases, they provide those knowledgeable of the culture with powerful constraints on behavior.
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Donald A. Norman |
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d90b2ce
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Violate conventions and you are marked as an outsider. A rude outsider, at that.
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Donald A. Norman |
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0d750ab
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Machines that give too much feedback are like backseat drivers.
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Donald A. Norman |
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2028544
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Affordances determine what actions are possible. Signifiers communicate where the action should take place. We
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Donald A. Norman |
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82c9d4f
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With all the alarms that trigger when a problem arises, even though it might be minor, and all the everyday failures, how does one know which might be a significant indicator of a major problem? Every single one usually has a simple, rational explanation, so not making it an urgent item is a sensible decision. In fact, the maintenance crew simply adds it to a list. Most of the time, this is the correct decision. The one time in a thousand (..
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Donald A. Norman |
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80f5453
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Hindsight is always superior to foresight. When the accident investigation committee reviews the event that contributed to the problem, they know what actually happened, so it is easy for them to pick out which information was relevant, which was not. This is retrospective decision making. But when the incident was taking place, the people were probably overwhelmed with far too much irrelevant information and probably not a lot of relevant ..
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Donald A. Norman |
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ae9a46d
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Even if the first versions of a product are well done, human-centered, and focused upon real needs, it is the rare organization that is content to let a good product stay untouched.
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Donald A. Norman |
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c99d188
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The unaided mind is surprisingly limited. It is things that make us smart. Take advantage of them.
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Donald A. Norman |
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4170eea
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In some Australian Aborigine societies, time moves relative to the environment based on the direction in which the sun rises and sets. Give
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Donald A. Norman |
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169f14d
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key to winning the race is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines.
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Donald A. Norman |
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468bbd7
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seven fundamental principles of design: 1. Discoverability. It is possible to determine what actions are possible and the current state of the device. 2. Feedback. There is full and continuous information about the results of actions and the current state of the product or service. After an action has been executed, it is easy to determine the new state. 3. Conceptual model. The design projects all the information needed to create a good co..
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Donald A. Norman |
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db4e56c
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There seems to be a conspiracy, one calculated to destroy our sanity by overloading our memory. Many codes, such as postal codes and telephone numbers, exist primarily to make life easier for machines and their designers without any consideration of the burden placed upon people. Fortunately,
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Donald A. Norman |
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45803be
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With open-source software, inexpensive open-source 3-D printers, and even open-source education, we can transform the world.
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Donald A. Norman |
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286f229
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1. What do I want to accomplish? 2. What are the alternative action sequences? 3. What action can I do now? 4. How do I do it? 5. What happened? 6. What does it mean? 7. Is this okay? Have I accomplished my goal?
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Donald A. Norman |
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1b933b5
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In my university, copying machines are purchased by the Printing and Duplicating Center, then dispersed to the various departments. The copiers are purchased after a formal "request for proposals" has gone out to manufacturers and dealers of machines. The selection is almost always based solely on price, plus a consideration of the cost of maintenance. Usability? Not considered. The state of California requires by law that universities purc..
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Donald A. Norman |
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27415e7
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Skeuomorphic is the technical term for incorporating old, familiar ideas into new technologies, even though they no longer play a functional role. Skeuomorphic designs are often comfortable for traditionalists, and indeed the history of technology shows that new technologies and materials often slavishly imitate the old for no apparent reason except that is what people know how to do. Early automobiles looked like horse-driven carriages wit..
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Donald A. Norman |
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fbdcd71
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If designers and researchers do not sometimes fail, it is a sign that they are not trying hard enough--they are not thinking the great creative thoughts that will provide breakthroughs in how we do things.
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Donald A. Norman |
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1021254
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Root cause analysis is the name of the game: investigate the accident until the single, underlying cause is found. What this ought to mean is that when people have indeed made erroneous decisions or actions, we should determine what caused them to err. This is what root cause analysis ought to be about. Alas, all too often it stops once a person is found to have acted inappropriately.
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Donald A. Norman |