The interplay of technology and psychology significantly influences design by shaping its two key features: discoverability and understanding. Technology provides the tools and methods to create a design, while psychology helps understand how users will interact with it. This interplay is evident in the use of affordances, signifiers, constraints, mappings, and feedback in design. These psychological concepts help designers create products that are intuitive and user-friendly. Engineers need to understand both technology and psychology to create effective designs.

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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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Two of the most important features of good design are discoverability and understanding. Discoverability: Is it possible to figure out what actions are possible and how to perform them? Understanding: What does it all mean? How is the product supposed to be used? What do all the different controls and settings mean? Discoverability comprises five fundamental psychological concepts: 1) Affordances (a chair affords support, so in turn it affords the ability to sit); 2) Signifiers (a flat panel on a door signifies one should push); 3) Constraints (imposed limitations on design that can come in four types: physical; cultural; semantic; and logical); 4) Mappings (ordered switches on the wall might specify which switch is for which light); 5) Feedback (the communicating of an action). "Today, I realize that design presents a fascinating interplay of technology and psychology, that the designers must understand both. Engineers still tend to believe in logic. … 'Why are people having problems...

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Some examples of products that demonstrate good discoverability and understanding include smartphones, laptops, and other digital devices. These products have intuitive interfaces that allow users to easily figure out what actions are possible and how to perform them. They also provide clear instructions and feedback to help users understand how the product is supposed to be used and what the different controls and settings mean.

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