In the beginning... Design of Everyday Things

I read this book way back in school for my theory design class. I thought it made some good points on the design aspects of things. Yes, there are some products out there that are poorly designed (Windows Vista), ones that simply underestimate human intellectuality (Windows Vista) and others that pay no attention to customer/student feedback (Windows Vista).

Norman's view is everyone's rants. If we sit down and ask ourselves why things are the way they are, we are bound to find flaws. One of my undergrad projects in my product design class was to find a flawless product.

To my surprise, I came to the conclusion that the TOOTHBRUSH was the most simplistic, most primitive tool/instrument ever. Its success relies on its simplicity. Brush and a handle. Yet, and this is my response to Norman's book, the industry has tried to turn it into a sophisticated instrument (see Oral-B 9100). In other words, companies are restricted in design from the lack of RnD or overcompensation to differentiate from other brands.

The education:
Regardless of the toothbrush, thinking of how people adapt to learning theories depends on many things such as cultural differences, native language, age, gender, social and economical status, etc. All these differences need to be addressed prior to curriculum development to better design and assess instructional design. Another important aspect for the instructor/developer/designer is to focus on a clear conceptual and consistent model that is scalable to the audience's need. This is where I see Web 2.0 tools, such as Wikis, blogs, etc become the key to collaborate with other instructors overcoming instructional obstacles.

Flexibility is a major key factor in designing models, instructors need to be able to adapt and evaluate in a timely matter, to reach those students that are falling behind without retarding the learning process for others.