1. The Psychology of
Everyday Things K ate Thomas
April 5, 2013
Principles of Design Volume 1, Issue 1
I’ve been in many elevators in my life.
Usually, the process is easy: get in, wait for the
doors to close, press the button to go up or down,
wait, then leave. There have been a few incidents
where I have gotten on an elevator and what seems
to be an easy process is suddenly not so easy.
There are two fundamental principles of
design that help users with a process: 1. Provide a
good conceptual model. 2. Make things visible.
A conceptual model is when the user is able
to mentally simulate theoperation because parts are
visible and the implication is clear. Making things
visible means that the correct parts must be
obviousand it must convey the correct message
using natural signals. http://www.cooper.com/journal/2010/05/hold_that_elevator.html
Do you believe that these two fundamental
principles are met on this elevator?
Affordance
Which ball would you kick? We would
all most likely choose to kick the round ball.
That is because we are able to perceive its
properties and we know what those properties
are meant for. Round objects are meant for
rolling, while cube-shaped objects are meant
for staying still. This is called affordance.
After kicking the round ball, the user
receives immediately feedback that it rolls and
the action has been done. This feedback
reinforces the affordance (what it is meant for)
of an object.
http://www.skynet.ie/~keelin/project_planning.html
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