The Design of Everyday Things #2

1. "In England I visited a home with a fancy new Italian washer-drier combination, with super-duper multi-symbol controls, all to do every thing you ever wanted to do with the washing and drying of clothes. The husband (an engineering psychologist) said he refused to go near it. The wife (a physician) said she had simply memorized one setting and tried to ignore the rest."

This passage is interesting because it illustrates two design flaws still prevalent in our world today. Clearly the washer-drier was a well thought out product in which the designers took into account all one's possible needs. There was obviously some discrepancy between what the designers believed were one's basic needs and what actually were. The design flaw still prevalent today is how designers create a product that may look great, do a lot, and do it well, but they never think to test out their product in advance. They never think to see how someone other than themselves, the makers, might approach using this object. Clearly it will be much easier for one of their own to operate a complicated device like that, but for ordinary folk, it's not second nature. The other design flaw this passage illustrates is a flaw that rests more heavily on the buyer instead of the designer. As the author points out, if the product was so difficult to operate, why did the couple buy it in the first place? He makes a good point; if people keep purchasing products such as this, the designers will think their product is in demand and therefore will never really know to fix its complexities. 

2. This book still influences designers today because his points about design flaws and necessities are completely relevant to modern day design. A successful product is still one that is simple, and visibility will always be a target point. If a product is too difficult to maneuver and looks very complex on the outside, no one is going to buy it. The need for visibility is greater now than ever because of how technology is rapidly changing. In order to operate these high tech designs, visibility is key for the consumer. This goes hand in hand with his point that number of functions should never exceed number of controls; this seems inevitable with modern day technology and consumer demands. Likewise, there still exists a need for designers to create aesthetically pleasing products. Therefore, his point about how designers do not always take the consumer into account and test their product is valid. There will always be those fancy Italian washer-driers on the market, and people will indeed buy them. People do not always care about function first, and instead focus on the aesthetics. Designers should always test their product before it is put on the market. In a world where people have less patience with putting together a product and want things done right away, there is no room for poor instructions and complex designs. 

3. The factors I would include on a checklist for evaluating the design of a product are: visibility and clarity of the design; aesthetics that do not deter from its operation; need for immediate feedback; need for someone other than designer to test the product in advance; direct correlation between intended action and actual operation; clarity of use of design without instructions; number of functions should equal number of controls; natural mapping (turn wheel to the right, car turns right); creating a balance between price and appearance, and functionality and usability; simplicity (paradox of technology).