The Design of Everyday Things

Years ago in graduate school I was assigned a book titled “The Design of Everyday Things.” The book argued that we consumers are plagued with poorly designed things in our lives because we don’t demand better. For example, those glass doors in commercial buildings with a horizontal bar across them. If you can’t tell which side to push on, it’s not your fault. It should be obvious which side to push on. Good design is intuitive. And it’s beautiful.
Today I was with a client in the home that he will be closing on next week, and the range hood caught my eye. Range hoods are usually just an uninteresting aspect of the kitchen. Sometimes in luxury homes they are adorned with some motif, perhaps a fleur-de-lis, meant to evoke je ne sais quoi.
This stove hood executes its very practical function with elegance and beauty. It is well designed.
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman has apparently been revised since my grad school days, and of course it’s available on Amazon. I recommend it to everyone, especially product designers. Why can’t everyday things be designed for both function and aesthetics?
Certainly, they can be and some of them are. When you’re shopping, make good design one of your criteria, whether it’s a range hood or a can opener or a trash can. If consumers will care about good design, manufacturers will care about it, too.