ENKO

The Design of Everyday Things

Book review of Donald A. Norman's 'The Design of Everyday Things' - A classic in UX design

This book, translated into Korean as "Design and Human Psychology," is a work by Donald A. Norman who first introduced the concept of UX. Although it's been over 30 years since its publication, the concepts presented in this book have become core principles of design laws. It's a must-read for any student studying UX design and HCI. I wish I had read it before taking Professor Kim Juho's HCI class last spring and before doing an internship in his lab in the fall, but I actually read this book last January after finding a Korean translation at a used bookstore. On the flip side, having learned various concepts in class made it easier to read through the book smoothly.

For convenience, I'll write this review in Korean, but I'll describe the terms in English.

This book compares good and bad design.

Book Chapters

Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Actions

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do

Chapter 5: Human Error? No, Bad Design

Chapter 6: Design Thinking

Chapter 7: User-Centered Design

When I have time, I should read more of these books.