my blog: http://itp.nyu.edu/~ps2409/Peiqi/?p=454
I love interaction design. It’s gleeful for me to look over the world and analyze each deficiency. Surprisingly, there are huge number of daily things that are not easy to interaction with, such as vending machines, tap-in doors, microwaves and even refrigerators. I kept asking “what makes it difficult to do”. Then I realized it’s more crucial to know “what happens when people done something”. Since PEOPLE is the core of interactions, I want to learn how our body moves, for example how we walks, how we hold things, how we touch things. By learning these, I could be able to understand interaction design better, and explore ways to re-design everyday things, to make them easy to use and compelling to use.
Don Norman: Designing For People
Donald Arthur Norman is an academic in the field of cognitive science, design and usability engineering. I love his words “Designing For People”. In the study area of humans, from my point of view, his work shares same spirit with (at least part of) the works in biomechanics, which is the study of the structure and function of biological systems, such as humans, by means of the methods of mechanics. Both of them concerned how human’s body works in order to make things from the point of people and for the target of people. Another same spirit is that both works bridge the gaps between people and things serving people, and both of them are study in interdisciplinary.
Don Norman has a wide variety of backgrounds. He is born in December 25, 1935. In 1957, he received an B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Then he earned M.S. in EECS and Ph.D in Mathematical Psychology. After graduating, Norman took up a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard University. Four years later, he took a position as an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at UCSD. He used to be Vice President of Research ar Apple Computer and helped change the product process to emphasize the total user experience form product conception through shipping. He also worked in HP, and now are providing executive-level management consulting on human-centered design.Maybe it is his rich experiences in different areas that make him successful in a cross-discipline.
His book, The Design of Everyday Things, inspired me so much. This is the book which open my eyes to really observe things around me. After several months of observation, I find it is crucial for designers to understand the body movements and basic anatomy. That’s why I am excited about the Biomechanics class. In the book, one interesting point is “the problem with doors”. When we approach a door, we have to figure out both the side to open and how to open it. It seems a very simple interaction, however, it could be a challenge in our daily life. Doors have amazing variety. Some need to push; some pull; some lift; some slide; some swipe cards; some insert card; some open only if a button is pushed; some do not have any sign to instruct how to open. Sometimes it’s even hard to know weather we should push a door or pull it, so we have to try our chances.
The picture above solved the door problem very well. They are different handles on a car. Each of them designed based on the corresponding movements of human’s hand. The left handle lies vertically, which fits the hand to hold in a vertical position. The right handle is horizontal, which indicates the hand should hold in a horizontal position. Both handle coupled with overhang and indentation that indicate to pull. I think this is a excellent example to use biomechanics to solve design problems.
References:
Wikipedia page of Donald Norman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Norman
Don Norman’s jnd.org: http://www.jnd.org/
Biomechanics Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanics#Applications
