Psychopathology of everyday Things (Ch-1)

imp charac of design: discoverability, understanding

areas of design: industrial (form, material), interaction (understandability, us
ability), experience (emotionl impact)
human centric design: focus on human needs, capabilities and behavior first, the
n design to accomodate them
discoverability based on following 5 psychological concepts(+1):
>affordances (rel. b/w object properties, user capabilities. tell what action ca
n take place)
>signifiers (used to make affordances visible. tell where action should take pla
ce)
>constraints (in Ch-4)
>mappings (rel. b/w user action and operation carried out. eg. driving wheel. sh
ould be easy to understand, remember)
>feedback (communication of results of a user action to the user. clear, visible
, informative, unobstrusive)
>conceptual model (simple explanation of how something works, shouldn't be based
on wrong assumptions)
Psychology of Everyday Things (Ch-2)
Gulf of execution: how something works (via signifiers, constraints, mappings, c
onceptual model)
Gulf of evaluation: what happened (via feedback and conceptual model)
Seven stages of action: goal:-(plan->specify->perform)execution...(percieve->int
erpret->compare)evaluation
human thinking: subconscious (fast, automatic, common tasks) and concious (slow,
focussed, new tasks) cognition
levels of cognition:
>Visceral (immediate percepttion and reaction, design: affected by style of prod
uct)
>Behavioural (learned skills, subconscious, design: every action has an expectat
ion, feedback imp, sense of control)
>Reflective (assigns causes and predictions, results in emotions like guilt, pri
de, blame, praise, forms memories, hence imp)
emotions and cognition affect each other
|GOAL|
|plan\(reflective)/compare|
|specify\(behavioural)/interpret|
|perform\(visceral)/percieve|
|WORLD|
Seven Stages of Action: Questions
1. What do I want to accomplish?
2. What are the alternative action sequences?
3. What action can I do now?
4. How do I do it?
5. What happened?
6. What does it mean?
7. Is this okay? Have I accomplished my goal?
Seven fundamental Design Principles:
Discoverability: discovering possible actions from current device state
Feedback: should be easy to make sense of new state
Conceptual Model: should enhance discoverability and evaluation of results
Affordances: desired actions should be possible
Signifiers: should properly communicate feedback
Mappings: should take care of spatial layout and temporal contiguity
Constraints: physical, logical, semantic and cultural constraints for guiding ac
tions and interpretation
Knowledge in the Head and in the World (Ch-3)
Precise behaviour from imprecise knowledge arises because:

>Knowledge in both head and world

>Great precision not required
>Existance of natural constraints
>Knowledge of cultural constraints and conventions
Knowledge in the World:
>Information is readily and easily available whenever perceivable.
>Interpretation substitutes for learning. Ease of interpretation depends upon th
e skill of the designer.
>Slowed by the need to find and interpret the knowledge.
>Ease of use at first encounter is high.
>Can be ugly and inelegant. Leads to clutter. Skills of the graphics and industr
ial designer required.
Knowledge in the Head:
>Readily available. Otherwise considerable search and effort may be required.
>Requires learning. Eased by additional structure, good Conceptual Model.
>Can be efficient, especially when learned to such a degree that it's automated.
>Ease of use at first encounter is low.
>Nothing needs to be visible, hence more freedom to designer, at cost of learnin
g.
Knowing what to do: Constraints, Discoverability and Feedback (Ch-4)
4 types of constraints:
>Physical (shape, size, environment, etc. most obvious, major [legacy problem: o
ld, inefficient design persists, because it's always been there])
>Cultural (change with time, place, culture etc. [schemas: knowledge structures
for cultural behaviour guidelines])
>Semantic (constraints derived from meaning of a particular situation, may chang
e with change in culture, technology as well)
>Logical (correspond with natural mappings, whatever logic dictates)
Forcing Functions: Failure at 1 stage prevents next step from happening. 3 speci
alized types:
>Interlocks: Operations are forced to take place in the proper sequence.
>Lock-ins: Keeps operation active, preventing from premature stops.
>Lock-outs: Prevents operation from happening when not required.
(Sound is an important signifier and feedback, if used properly and naturally wi
thout annoyance)
Human Error? No, Bad Design (Ch-5)
Error: Deviance from "appropriate" behaviour.
Root Cause Analysis: Investigation of an accident till a single underlying cause
is found. Should NOT stop at human 'error'.
The Five Why's: Once a cause is found, don't stop. Ask why that was the cause. A
nd so on.
Two types of Errors:
>Slips: diff. in intended and performed action. can be action-based or memory-la
pse
>>Action Slips types
>>>capture slips: frequent activity instead of desired, occurs for 'initially si
milar' actions that diverge. actions should be diff. from start. occurs when dis
tracted.
>>>description similarity slips: action upon item similar to target. correct act
ion, wrong object. occurs when stressed. controls etc should be easily differed.
>>>mode error slips: occurs when device has diff. states in which same controls
mean different things. mode should be visible to avoid confusion.
>>Memory Lapse slips: generally occurs because of interruptions. design should m
inimise such interruptions. also, minimise steps, add forcing function etc.
>Mistakes: establishment of a wrong goal. can be rule-based (appropriate diagnos
is, wrong rule), knowledge-based (misdiagnosed), memory-lapse
Social pressures (social, economic, schedule-based, culture based etc.) are also
a critical factor in errors.

Checklists: increase accuracy, reduce error (esp. slips and memory lapses)
W.R.T. 7 stages of action: Mistakes (GOAL, plan, compare), Slips (specify, perfo
rm, percieve, interpret)
Error Reporting and correction examples:
>Jidoka (Toyota's error handling method): anyone can report error. if found, oth
ers penalised for not reporting. promotes honesty.
>Poka-Yoke:adding small conveniences, fixtures, etc to minimise common sources o
f error. based on forcing functions primarily.
>NASA safety reporting sys: semi-anonymous error reports. when submitted to FAA,
all contact details removed.
Designing for error:
>understand causes of error, efforts to minimize them.
>sensibility checks ('does it make common sense?')
>actions should preferably ne reversible.
>errors easy to discover and correct.
>treat erronous action not as 'error', but as an approximation of intended actio
n.
Swiss Cheese Model: Accident occurs when lots of layers of cheese (layers of ops
.) have perfectly lined up holes (errors).
To minimise, add layers (more procedural steps), reduce size and number of holes
(less safety points)
Resilience engineering: design accomdating oncoming problems. equipment, procedu
res, people continually tested, assessed, improved.
Good Design Principles:
>Knowledge for operation should be in the world. Aids experts in novel situation
s and novicesin getting work done easily.
>Use natural and artificial constraints, forcing functions and natural mappings.
>Bridge the Gulf of Execution and the Gulf of Evaluation. Make things visible, b
oth for execution (feedforward) and evaluation (feedback).
Design Thinking (Ch-6)
Human Centered Design (HCD): Design should be created for easy use by humans.
Double Diamond Model of design: First find the right problem, then the right sol
ution, using HCD principles.
Both stages go through steps of divergence and convergence w.r.t alternatives: r
ight problem[<(discover)>(define)], right solution[<(develop)>(deliver)]
Steps for HCD: Iterating through observation, idea generation, prototyping, test
ing.
>Observation: of people's requirements, goals, impediments etc. (applied ethnogr
aphy: observing customers in natural environ to judge needs)
>Idea Generation: thinking up potential solutions. required: numerous ideas, avo
idance of constraints, question everything
>Prototyping: (Wizard of Oz technique: use mock-ups sketches, skits, basically a
nything quick and easy to whip up)
>Testing: Single or in Groups (even for single, preferably in pairs allowing fre
e interaction). Magic number: 5 people.
>Iteration
Activity centered design: Activity defines product, not the people. Works becaus
e nost people do similar activities across the world.
Activity: High level structure, hierarchial. Task: Low level component of an Act
ivity.
Goals have 3 levels: Be-goal (detemines self-image), Do-goal (plans and actions
for an activity), Motor-goal (how an activity is performed)
Iterative vs Linear Design:
>Linear (traditional, waterfall method, no undo. involve decision gates in form
of management review)
>Iterative (circular, continual improvement. for early stages, since time, money
consuming, suitable for small projects)
Law of Product Development (by Don Norman :P): The day a product development pro
cess starts, it is behind schedule and above budget. (Multidisciplinary teams he

lp)