Recently, I’ve been reading Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying it. Norman wrote the book more than 30 years ago and our advancements in technology since then makes some of the content seem almost comical. In one example, Norman makes a huge deal about computers and VCRs. At the time the book was published, computers were relatively new and so were VCRs.

But one of my favorite examples thus far is about another great technological achievement: door handles. When it comes to doors, the concept is presumably easy. You can push them open, pull them open, or slide them open. But take away the handle and you have no idea how to open the door. Handles are very indicative of function and, as a result, should be designed to clearly illustrate how the door opens. If it weren’t for the usable and functional design of a door handle, you would otherwise slam your face into it, or, in the case of Mr. Norman’s friend, get stuck between two sets of glass doors.

Even though Norman’s book is a bit dated, we can all take away that the underlying principles of usability and the cognitive approaches to memory and mappings are still very valid today.

Ultimately, good design doesn’t need instruction. A door should be easy to use without having to use the words “PUSH,” “PULL,” or “SLIDE” and handles should be designed so that we don’t spend more than a nanosecond debating on how it should be turned. Consider the following example:

The doors above are clearly supposed to be pushed open.

These handles signify pulling. The PUSH label only makes it confusing. Clearly, this company chose aesthetics over functionality. These labels were probably added after the doors were installed because people were having trouble opening the doors.

Now, I know the first door is the most usable, but it’s also the least attractive. Here’s what I think: it’s nice to make something look attractive, but if you take away the usability in the process, you’ve only made the product worse.

Part of usability is reducing or eliminating the need for users to think. Essentially, it’s making things more intuitive and easier to understand for all users, but good designers can create things that are not only very attractive, but also very usable.

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Chris Rodriguez Creative Services

Filed under: Design

Tags: Design, Eben Design, usability, user experience