[Field Notes] How Design Shapes Our Lives

"Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible." - Don Norman

Most of us don’t think about design until it frustrates us—a door you can’t open, an app you can’t figure out, a button you press the wrong way. That’s the genius of Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things: it makes you see what’s been invisible all along.

I picked up this book because I’ve been thinking a lot about human behavior—why we do what we do, and how the objects we use either support or hinder that. The Design of Everyday Things argues that good design isn’t about the product—it’s about the human using it.

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The Thesis:

Design isn’t about aesthetics—it’s about function. The best design makes the right action feel natural and obvious. When something is confusing, it’s not user error—it’s design failure.

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Here’s what you need to know…

[Affordances]

• An object should tell you how to use it.

• A chair affords sitting. A button affords pressing.

• If you can’t tell how to interact with something, it’s a design problem—not a you problem.

[Signifiers]

• A good design makes the intended action clear.

• A signifier is a cue: a label, an arrow, a shape. It helps users know what to do.

• If the signifier is missing (or misleading), people get stuck.

[Feedback Loops]

• Good design gives feedback: a sound, a light, a vibration.

• Without feedback, you don’t know if your action worked.

• Every system—apps, products, even conversations—needs clear feedback.

[Error is Inevitable—Design for It]

• People will make mistakes. That’s not a flaw—it’s reality.

• The best systems anticipate error and make recovery easy.

• Think: “Undo” buttons, clear warnings, and pathways to correct mistakes.

[Human-Centered Design]

• Design should start with the user, not the technology.

• Understand people’s needs, limitations, and mental models—then build around them.

• If it doesn’t make sense to the human using it, it’s bad design.

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Final Thoughts:

Once you read this book, you can’t unsee it. You’ll start noticing every bad design around you—every door you push instead of pull, every app that confuses you. And you’ll realize: design is psychology in action. It’s about meeting people where they are, not where you think they should be.

Till next time,
Diaundra

IG / Spotify