Please Respond to in a Complete Paragraph to Each of the Following Using Examples And

Please respond to in a complete paragraph to each of the following using examples and information from Donald Norman's, Design of Everyday Things.

1. Define an Everyday thing and constraint. Provide several examples.

An everyday thing is an object “…that make up our everyday lives” (p2). Examples of every day things range from a simple doorknob to a remote control to a lamp. Other examples are kitchen appliances, like stoves and microwaves, chairs, radios, scissors, refrigerators, televisions, VCRs and DVD players. Constraint is what good design should incorporate; it forces the user to utilize the object only in a certain way. For example, scissors have different size holes to fit a certain number of fingers: “the big hole suggests several fingers, the small hole only one” (p.12). Another example is the 3.5-floppy disk. The designers of the floppy disk created the disk in a rectangular shape and put one special indentation on each side. These constraints prevent the floppy disk to be put in the wrong way.

2. Define an affordance and provide examples.

Affordance “refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used” (p.8). In other words, what is the object in question primarily used for? For example, a chair is used for (or affords) “support and, therefore, affords [used for] sitting. Norman also points out that, “affordances provide strong clues to the operations of things” (p.9). For example, objects like knobs clue the person into turning the object, that is, what to do with the object.

3. Explain what mapping is and give examples.

Norman states “mapping is a technical term meaning the relationship between two thing…”(p.23). Norman continues, “…Mapping is easily learned and always remembered. Natural mapping [takes] advantage of physical analogies and cultural standards [leading] to immediate understanding.” (P.23) One example is the steering wheel of a car.

There are many controls for a car, but the steering wheel with the natural inclination to turn the wheel can only go two ways (constraint): to the left or right. If the driver wants to go to the left, the most logical action to do is turn the wheel counter-clockwise, to the left. And if the driver wants to go to the right, s/he would intrinsically know to turn the wheel clockwise, to the right. There is a strong relationship between the direction of the wheel when turned and the direction of the car. The steering wheel is turned right, the car goes to the right.

Another example of mapping is the seat control for the Mercedes-Benz automobile. The control is in the shape of the seat and when pushed in a specific direction, the seat also moves in that direction; a logical reaction to the driver’s initial action.

4. Describe a good design of computers according to affordances, mapping and constraints.

A good design for a computer that conforms to the principles of affordances, mapping and constraints can be a daunting task. The design of the computer should take affordances into account. When I look at the object, the so-called computer, one should be able to easily conclude that the object is in deed a computer. The person looking at the object should not have to analyze it, scratch his/her head, to be able to conclude that s/he is looking at a computer.

There are many controls that make up a computer, some are external and some are internal, out of sight. There are some controls that should be in plain sight though: the keyboard, monitor, and the “on/off” button, for example. Although Apple rocks with their design, one design flaw is their “on/off” button on the eMac. The button was placed towards the back of the teardrop computer. Every time someone wanted to use the computer, they would ask, “how do I turn it on?” and even after they were told where the button was, the student still could not find it.

The “on/off” button should conform to the mapping ideas of Mr. Norman. Addition to the placement of the “on/off” button, the way it looks should provide the user with a reasonable visual clue that it is in fact the “on/off” button. Although there generally is a sign on the button to denote power-on, only geeks would know what that sign means. What’s important is the look and feel of the button. It should be different than the keys on the keyboard and should look like it should be pushed to start the computer. A light or a sound should occur, providing feedback that the computer has been turned on.

The ports on the computer would be designed with the constraint theory of Mr. Norman. There are quite a few ports the computer will need: USB, FireWire 400 and 800, and V/A in/out just to name a few. Plugging in a USB flash drive would be constrained to that specific port, so that it could only be put into that specific port and only one way. If someone tried to put the flash drive into the port upside down, the flash drive would not enter the port.