You Know Norman Doors, but What About Norman Washer-Dryers?
Designing simple objects is easy. The challenge is with complex devices.
Every user experience designer has read Don Norman’s book, The Design of Everyday Things or at least has heard about the Norman doors.
A door is a simple and common object that doesn’t need an explanation of how to use it and it shouldn’t be difficult to use it too. Although, you find a lot of doors that are confusing because you don’t know if you have to pull, push, slide or turn.
How can such a simple thing as a door be so confusing? A door would seem to be about as simple a device as possible. There is not much you can do to a door: you can open it or shut it.
— Don Norman
Don Norman doesn’t give visual examples in his book to illustrate his point and I’m not going to do that either. But if you want them, some people like to collect them. If you need to know more, you can read Tania Vieira excellent introduction to the subject.
Norman doors are easy to detect and easy to make fun of. That’s why they are so popular. They are too obvious even for a child.
