The lessons from "The Design of Everyday Things" can be applied in today's design industry by focusing on human-centered design. This means understanding the user's needs, behaviors, and how they interact with products. Designers should consider both declarative knowledge (knowledge of) and procedural knowledge (knowledge how) of the users. For instance, a designer should understand not just what a user might do with a product (declarative knowledge), but also how they might use it (procedural knowledge). This approach can help designers create products that are intuitive and easy to use, thereby improving the user experience.

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The Design of Everyday Things

How do designers improve their products to work around flaws in human logic? In The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman teaches the top frameworks b...

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There are two types of knowledge that people use on a day-to-day basis: knowledge of—referred to by psychologists as declarative knowledge (remember to stop at red traffic lights)—and knowledge how—also known as procedural knowledge (knowledge of how to play a musical instrument). One need not recall exactly what a coin looks like to pay for things; knowledge that it is a coin is enough.

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Knowledge of" and "knowledge how" are two different types of knowledge that we use in our daily lives.

"Knowledge of", also known as declarative knowledge, refers to the factual information we know. It's the knowledge about something, such as knowing that we should stop at red traffic lights. This type of knowledge is often explicit, meaning it can be easily communicated or explained to others.

On the other hand, "knowledge how", also known as procedural knowledge, refers to the skills or procedures we know how to perform. It's the knowledge of how to do something, such as playing a musical instrument. This type of knowledge is often implicit or tacit, meaning it's harder to communicate and is often learned through practice and experience.

In essence, "knowledge of" is about facts, while "knowledge how" is about skills and procedures.

The lessons from "The Design of Everyday Things" can be applied in today's business environment in several ways. Firstly, businesses can adopt a "human-centered" design system. This means designing products or services with the end-user in mind, considering their needs, preferences, and limitations. Secondly, businesses can focus on the three most important areas of design: visibility, feedback, and constraints. Visibility ensures that users can see what functions are available. Feedback provides users with information about what action has been performed and what results have been achieved. Constraints limit the actions that can be performed, preventing errors. Lastly, businesses can differentiate between declarative knowledge (knowledge of) and procedural knowledge (knowledge how) in their operations. Understanding these two types of knowledge can help businesses improve their training programs, product designs, and overall customer experience.

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