Don Norman

2.1. Early Life and Education

Donald Arthur Norman was born on December 25, 1935, in the United States. He pursued his undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1957. Following his studies at MIT, Norman continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained a M.S. degree, also in electrical engineering. He further specialized in his academic journey by pursuing a PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, which he completed in 1962. Norman was among the earliest graduates from the distinguished Mathematical Psychology group at the University of Pennsylvania, and his doctoral advisor was the influential psychologist Duncan Luce.

2.2. Early Academic Career

After completing his PhD, Norman accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard University. Within a year of joining, he was appointed as a lecturer, marking the beginning of his teaching career. After spending four years at the Center for Cognitive Studies, Norman moved to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1966, where he joined the Psychology Department as an associate professor.

At UCSD, Norman uniquely integrated his comprehensive training in engineering, computer science, and experimental and mathematical psychology into the burgeoning field of cognitive science. His interdisciplinary expertise proved instrumental in shaping UCSD's academic landscape. He eventually became the founding chair of the Department of Cognitive Science and also served as chair of the Department of Psychology. During his tenure at UCSD, Norman was a key figure in the establishment of the Institute for Cognitive Science. He was also one of the principal organizers of the Cognitive Science Society, working alongside other prominent figures like Roger Schank and Allan Collins. The society held its inaugural meeting on the UCSD campus in 1979, signifying a major milestone in the formal recognition of cognitive science as a distinct academic discipline.

In collaboration with psychologist Tim Shallice, Norman developed a significant framework for the attentional control of executive functioning, known as the Norman-Shallice model. A key component of this model is the supervisory attentional system, which describes how higher-level cognitive processes guide attention and action.

3.1. Transition to Cognitive Engineering

Norman's career underwent a pivotal shift from the theoretical realm of cognitive science to the practical application of cognitive engineering, primarily through his work as a consultant and writer. A significant milestone in this transition was his widely acclaimed article, "The truth about Unix: The user interface is horrid", published in Datamation magazine in 1981. This article propelled him into prominence within the computer industry by forcefully articulating the usability challenges of complex systems.

Following this, Norman's career began to flourish outside traditional academia, although he maintained his academic ties, remaining active at UCSD until 1993. He continued his dedication to advancing human-centered design principles by serving on numerous university and government advisory boards, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). His advisory roles have extended to various corporate and institutional entities, such as Motorola, the Toyota National College of Technology, TED, Panasonic, and the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica. Notably, Norman was also part of a specialized team tasked with investigating the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident, where his expertise in human factors and system design was crucial in understanding the human-machine interactions that contributed to the incident.

3.2. Role in Industry

In 1993, Donald Norman made a significant move from academia to the technology industry, joining Apple Computer. He began his tenure as an Apple Fellow, with the groundbreaking title of User Experience Architect. This marked the very first recorded use of the phrase "User Experience" in a job title, reflecting his pioneering role in formalizing the concept within the industry. Following this, he advanced to the position of Vice President of Apple's Advanced Technology Group. After his impactful period at Apple, Norman also worked for Hewlett-Packard, continuing to apply his expertise in user interface and design.

3.3. Founding Nielsen Norman Group

In 1998, Donald Norman partnered with Jakob Nielsen, another prominent figure in usability, to co-found the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g). As joint principals of the company, their vision was to guide designers and businesses toward creating more human-centered products and enhancing internet interactions. The Nielsen Norman Group quickly became a leading authority and pioneer in the nascent field of user experience design, providing research-based insights and consulting services to improve product usability and user satisfaction.

3.4. Later Academic Activities

After his time in the technology industry, Norman returned to academia, reaffirming his commitment to education and research. He became a professor of computer science at Northwestern University, where he also served as co-director of the Segal Design Institute until 2010. In 2014, he made a notable return to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to assume the directorship of the newly established The Design Lab, which is housed within the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Additionally, Norman holds the title of Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), where he dedicates two months annually to teaching. He also serves as an IDEO fellow and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the IIT Institute of Design in Chicago.

4.1. User-Centered Design and Human-Centered Design

Donald Norman is widely credited with introducing the term "user-centered design" in his 1986 edited book, User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-computer Interaction. In this seminal work, he articulated the fundamental idea that designers must prioritize the needs and capabilities of the people who will ultimately use a system or product. He posited that while humans are remarkably adaptable and can often shoulder the burden of accommodating poorly designed artifacts, skilled designers alleviate this burden by adapting the artifact to the users.

In his highly influential 1988 book, The Design of Everyday Things (originally titled The Psychology of Everyday Things), Norman extensively developed the principles of user-centered design. He advocated for design approaches based squarely on user needs, initially considering aesthetics as a secondary concern. Key principles outlined in this work include simplifying task structures, making system states and functionalities visible, ensuring correct mapping between controls and their effects, exploiting the power of constraints to prevent errors, designing for error recovery, and effectively explaining affordances (the perceived properties of an object that suggest how it can be used). He also detailed the seven stages of action, a framework for understanding human interaction with systems. These principles have since been widely adopted across various design domains, from physical products to digital interfaces.

However, in the Revised and Expanded Edition of The Design of Everyday Things, published in 2013, Norman notably updated his perspective on aesthetics and explicitly moved away from the term "user-centered design." He acknowledged that the total experience of a product extends far beyond its usability, emphasizing the critical roles played by aesthetics, pleasure, and fun. This evolution in his thought led him to embrace the broader concept of human-centered design. He defines human-centered design as an approach that places human needs, capabilities, and behavior at the forefront, subsequently designing products and systems to effectively accommodate these fundamental human aspects. This shift highlighted his recognition of the emotional and holistic aspects of human experience as integral to effective design.

4.2. Cognitive Systems Engineering

Donald Norman played a pivotal role in shaping the interdisciplinary field of cognitive systems engineering. This domain integrates principles of human cognition with the design and analysis of complex human-technology systems, aiming to optimize performance and minimize errors in demanding environments. His collaborative work with psychologist Tim Shallice resulted in the influential Norman-Shallice model, which describes the mechanisms of attentional control and executive functioning. A core component of this model is the supervisory attentional system, explaining how higher-level cognitive processes monitor and regulate behavior, especially in novel or challenging situations.

Norman's writings on cognitive artifacts further cemented his contribution to understanding how technology can augment human intellect. In his book, Things That Make Us Smart: Defending the Human Attribute in the Age of the Machine, he defined "cognitive artifacts" as "those artificial devices that maintain, display, or operate upon information in order to serve a representational function and that affect human cognitive performance." Through this concept, Norman argued for the development of machines and systems that are tailored to fit human minds, rather than compelling human minds to conform to the complexities of machines, thus promoting more natural and effective interaction.

4.3. Emotional Design and Critical Perspectives

Following his re-evaluation of aesthetics in design, Donald Norman extensively explored the profound impact of emotions on user experience in his 2004 book, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. This work delves into how aesthetics and emotional responses influence people's perception, preference, and interaction with products. He argued that products evoking positive emotions are often perceived as more usable and enjoyable, emphasizing that emotional connection is a vital component of successful design, moving beyond mere functionality and usability.

Beyond his contributions to design philosophy, Norman has also maintained a critical perspective on the state of design research. He has controversially asserted that the academic design research community has had limited impact on the true innovation of products. Norman argues that while academics excel at refining existing products and improving their usability, the genuine breakthroughs in product development and new technologies are predominantly achieved by technologists. This viewpoint is encapsulated in his advocacy for a "technology first, needs last" approach for innovation, suggesting that significant leaps often occur when new technologies emerge, after which their human applications and needs are identified and refined. This perspective has prompted considerable debate within the design and research communities, challenging conventional wisdom about the genesis of innovation.

7.1. Psychology Books

• Memory and Attention: An Introduction to Human Information Processing (1969, 1976)
• Human Information Processing: An Introduction to Psychology (1972), in collaboration with Peter H. Lindsay
• Explorations in Cognition (1975), in collaboration with D. E. Rumelhart and the LNR Research Group
• Perspectives on Cognitive Science (1981)
• Learning and Memory (1982, 1983)

7.2. Usability and Design Books

• User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction (1986), edited in collaboration with Stephen Draper
• The Design of Everyday Things (1988, originally titled The Psychology of Everyday Things; Revised and Expanded Edition 2013)
• Turn Signals Are The Facial Expressions Of Automobiles (1992)
• Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine (1993)
• The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution (1998)
• Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things (2005)
• The Design of Future Things (2007)
• Living with Complexity (2010)
• Design for a Better World (2023)

7.3. Other Major Publications

• "The truth about Unix: The user interface is horrid" (1981), published in Datamation, Volume 27, Issue 12, pages 139-150. This article was later reprinted in Pylyshyn, Z. W., & Bannon, L. J., eds., Perspectives on the Computer Revolution, 2nd revised edition, Hillsdale, NJ: Ablex, 1989.
• Direct manipulation interfaces (1985), an influential work on direct manipulation interfaces, co-authored with E. L. Hutchins and J.D. Hollan.
• Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine (1994), a CD-ROM for Mac published by Voyager Company. This multimedia work combined content from his books Design of Everyday Things, Turn Signals Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles, and Things That Make Us Smart, along with various technical reports.