Video · ~1 hr

The Design of Everyday Things: 25 years later (BayCHI talk)

Don Norman · Don Norman (YouTube) Free Intermediate

The Design of Everyday Things: 25 years later (BayCHI talk)

If the book is too much right now, this talk gives you Norman himself explaining the same principles with live examples and stories. He walks through why people blame themselves for badly designed things, and what designers owe users instead. A good hour to spend before your next big product decision.

  • People blame themselves for failures that are really design failures
  • Feedback and clear signifiers prevent most user confusion
  • Designing for how people actually behave beats designing for how you wish they did
Watch on YouTube ↗

The question it answers

  1. What are the core UX principles every founder should know?

Read with it

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  2. The most accessible, practical intro to usability ever written, you can read it in a weekend and immediately fix your product.... sensible.com Book · ~200 pages Don't Make Me Think, Revisited Steve Krug
  3. The single most-cited usability framework in the field, from the definitive UX research authority. A checklist you can hold... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~15 min read 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Jakob Nielsen
  4. The foundational text on human-centered design that every product person should read once. It rewires how you see every... jnd.org / Basic Books Book · ~350 pages The Design of Everyday Things Don Norman
  5. A crisp, visual reference of the psychology principles behind good UX, perfect for a founder who wants the 'why' without a... lawsofux.com Article · reference site Laws of UX Jon Yablonski
  6. Facebook's former head of product design on what separates good design from decoration, which reframes polish as clarity and... The Year of the Looking Glass (Julie Zhuo) Essay · 8 min read Good Design Julie Zhuo
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