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Christina Cannilla

Edelestein

Creativity & Innovation

April 22, 2019

Have you ever struggled to push open a door, only to realize it is clearly

marked PULL? Have you ever puzzled over an unfamiliar faucet, or been perplexed by

a light switch that defies logic? It happens to us everyday, but why does it happen?

Well, you have fallen prey to a “Norman door”. A Norman door is a beautifully

designed yet tragically dysfunctional object. They can be normal doors, but the

significance is far beyond that because they represent the culmination of theories that

make up Don Norman’s Theory of Design.

Don Norman was a Computer Engineer who, later in life, realized his passion

for Psychology. Norman combined these two skillsets to write his book The Design of

Everyday Things that became a game-changer in the field of Innovation. The book

proposes the concept of User-Oriented Design. One way that this theory can be best

understood is by viewing it as “the creation of a dialogue between a person and a

product, system, or service. This dialogue is both physical and emotional in nature

and is manifested in the interplay between form, function, and technology as

experienced over time”(Blair and Stanton). Norman’s argument is that design and
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innovation must center around the user it is being designed for. He later published

two other works that built upon this theory, most recently writing about User-Oriented

Design as it applies to the rapidly changing world of technology. Put simply, Norman’s

viewpoint is that “[w]e must design for the way people behave, not for how we would

wish them to behave”(Living with Complexity).

Norman’s Theory of Design is symbolized by Norman doors. Norman chose to

use the door because it serves as the perfect model for design. Norman writes that “a

door poses only two essential questions, in which direction does it move? On which

side should one work it? The answers should be given by design, without any need

for words or symbols, certainly without any need for trial and error.” Norman is

arguing that the design of the door should provide the answers to the two questions

it poses. So, if the User-Oriented Design Model is put into practice it should create an

ideal door, which according to Norman is one that ''as I walk up to it and walk through

it, I'm not even aware that I had opened the door and shut it.”

But it goes beyond simplicity. It has to do with how we see things and how we,

as humans, use them. This is where Norman applied his knowledge of psychology.

Norman was provoked by the way we interpret functionality. How something that has

no effect on functionality can make us feel as though it as completely changed the

ability of an item. Norman notes that the appearance of an item affects how we

determine its functionality saying “Attractive things work better… When you wash and
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wax a car, it drives better, doesn’t it? Or at least feels like it does”(Norman). Norman

explains this by explaining how everything sends an emotional signal to your brain,

meaning everything has a personality, even if we don’t think of it that way. He argues

that “if functions are equated with cognition, pleasure is equated

with emotion”(Norman). Products must appeal to both cognition and emotion in

today’s world. It’s the total experience that matters.

Norman also found that our memories affect the way we determine the

efficiency of a product. He found that “experience is more based upon memory than

reality. If your memory of the product is wonderful, you will excuse all sorts of

incidental things”(Norman). Today, designer must go beyond building products that

function, that are understandable and usable, they must also build products that

bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, “and, yes, beauty to people’s

lives”(Norman).

So, how do beauty and simplicity work in unison? The dispute is not between

adding features and simplicity or between adding capability and usability. The real

dilemma comes to design. Norman theorizes about designing things that have the

power required for the job while maintaining understandability, the feeling of control,

and the pleasure of accomplishment. A product is complex because the world is

complex. The whole point of human-centered design is to distill down the complexity,

to turn what would appear to be a complicated tool into one that fits the task, that is
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understandable, usable, enjoyable. Norman defines this saying “what makes

something simple or complex? It’s not the number of dials or controls or how many

features it has: It is whether the person using the device has a good conceptual

model of how it operates”(Norman).

It can be far more serious than a moment of embarrassment of opening a door

incorrectly. The EpiPen is an instrument used to inject epinephrine into someone

experiencing a severe allergic reaction and is prescribed to 3.6 million Americans

each year, is a notorious Norman door. The appearance of the device, as well as its

name, suggest that it should work like a ballpoint pen, with a plastic cap covering the

needle. However, the EpiPen’s cap is a safety release that, when removed, exposes a

needle on the opposite end—causing many users (bystanders and trained medical

professionals alike) to accidentally stick themselves.

Even when a Norman door is just a door, the results can be more than just a

humbling moment of humiliation. One horrific incident led to stricter safety

regulations when, in 1903, the newly built Iroquois Theater in Chicago caught fire. A

heard of more than 600 frantic theatergoers pushed up against the exit doors—which

were designed to open inward, fatally trapping them inside. Injuries and deaths from

Norman doors are often later chalked up to human error. One way of judging a

products efficiency is whether or not it has a label. According to Norman ”Any time
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you see signs or labels added to a device, it is an indication of bad design: a simple

lock should not require instructions”(Norman).

It is important to acknowledge that technology is changing the world of

design. Modern technology is extremely complex, but complexity alone is neither

good nor bad: it is confusion caused by complexity that is bad. Norman urges us to

“forget the complaints against complexity; instead, complain about

confusion”(Norman). He poses the question “why do people buy an expensive,

complicated toaster when a simpler, less-expensive toaster would work just as well?

Why all the buttons and controls on steering wheels and rearview mirrors?”(Norman).

It is because these are the features that people believe they want. They make a

difference at the time of sale, which is when such features matter most. So why do we

deliberately build things that confuse the people who use them? It is because the

people want the features and the so-called demand for simplicity is a myth whose

time has passed, if it ever existed.

But, complexity can be tamed. It requires considerable effort to do it well.

Decreasing the number of buttons and displays is not the solution. The solution is to

understand the total system, to design it in a way that allows all the pieces fit nicely

together, so that initial learning as well as usage are both optimal. In the end, it comes

down to one simple thing, making things easier for the user means making it more

difficult for the designer or engineer.

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Works Cited

Blair, Sean, and Neville Stanton. Human Factors in Consumer Products. Taylor &

Francis, London, 1997. WorldCat, https://salve.on.worldcat.org/oclc/437078795.

Hancock, Charity, et al. "Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday." Textual

Cultures, vol. 8, no. 1, 2013, pp. 72-100, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/

textcult.8.1.72, doi:10.2979/textcult.8.1.72.

"Intelligent Design Theory." New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2009. Gale,

Detroit, MI, 2009. Gale Virtual Reference Library; Gale, http://

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3005400106/GVRL?

u=newp1620&sid=GVRL&xid=8d198790.

Jonassen, David H. "Toward a Design Theory of Problem Solving." Educational

Technology Research and Development, vol. 48, no. 4, 2000, pp. 63-85.

JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30220285.

Kim, Nanyoung. "A History of Design Theory in Art Education." Journal of Aesthetic

Education, vol. 40, no. 2, 2006, pp. 12-28, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4140227.

Kolko, Jon. Thoughts on Interaction Design : A Collection of Reflections. Elsevier/

Morgan Kaufmann, Amsterdam ;, 2011. WorldCat, https://salve.on.worldcat.org/

oclc/661180857.
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Li, Zhongmin, and M. D. Merrill. "ID Expert 2.0: Design Theory and

Process." Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 39, no. 2,

1991, pp. 53-69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30219960.

Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books, New York, 2002.

WorldCat, https://salve.on.worldcat.org/oclc/50752610.

---. Living with Complexity. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2011. WorldCat, https://

salve.on.worldcat.org/oclc/712025462.

"It's Not You. Bad Doors are Everywhere. " , directed by Joe Posner, and Roman

Mars. , produced by Joe Posner, and Roman Mars. , performance by Don

Norman. , VOX, 2016.

Sundt, Hal. "Norman Doors.", 2018, pp. 20(L). Literature Resource Center; Gale, http://

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u=newp1620&sid=LitRC&xid=47db4cde.

Witman, Sarah. "Norman Doors." Pacific Standard, vol. 10, no. 6, 2017, pp. 11, https://

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