Engineers often face challenges in understanding the psychological aspects of design due to their tendency to focus on logic and technical aspects. They may struggle with concepts such as discoverability and understanding, which involve figuring out what actions are possible with a product and how it is supposed to be used. This includes understanding affordances, signifiers, constraints, mappings, and feedback, which are all psychological concepts that play a crucial role in design. Furthermore, engineers may find it difficult to consider the cultural, semantic, and logical constraints that can impact a design.
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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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