Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful
Don Norman
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Summary:
At the time that this paper was written, the CHI community focused on creating tools and interfaces that were centered around the user. This is seems that it would be in the best interest of everyone, after all, users are the ones who will be using the tools. However, Don Norman suggests that centering a design around a user will not always result in the best design. There are times when the design needs to be centered around activities.
Norman points out that some great designs that were created with the task as the center of the design of instead of the user. One of these examples is the famous automobile. Norman suggests that users will adapt to the tool, and in some cases this is preferable over the tool adapting to the user.
Discussion:
Another Norman reading. I liked it as usual, and am very grateful that it was wrapped up into 6 short pages. Like all of the other things he has written that I have read, I think the information is very useful. His recommendations should never be the sole source of guidance, but it will always be beneficial to consider everything he has had to say in the past.
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I agree that people should not blindly follow Don's suggestions, being that he does have a tendency to change his mind a lot. I enjoyed this paper more so than his books because it was short and straight to the point.
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea that is papers should not be the sole source of guidance is a good point. To add to that, I still think he is just writing books so he can buy more Mercedes.
ReplyDeleteI thought the paper had some good points, although it may be hard to implement in certain situations. At least its not a 200+ page book.
ReplyDeleteThis reading was brief and to the point. always welcome in my book.
ReplyDeletelike my comment
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