Discussion of the main themes in the books Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug and The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman

 Idea 1 Paul Krug – Don’t make me think (200)

The message of Krug’s first chapter is the simple premise that the user should not need to think. Krug writes that when a user looks at a website a number of things should be immediately obvious. For example, what is a button and what is not. This can be done by methods such as shading, underlining or creating tabs. It should also be obvious how to navigate the website or application. For example a sliding bar or a search button to find the needed information or product. 

 

Users should also not be confused about what a button will do if they click on it. For example, a website should say “read news” not “read information” as the user will wonder what information they are going to find. As explained things need to explained in a way that there is no possible confusion. The writer uses the example of a how a button that says “job-o-roma” could be confusing and should simply say “jobs” or “available jobs” The overall message of the chapter is that every time a user is confused about something, the closer they get to leaving the website. 

 

 

Idea 1 Paul Krug - Relevant to mobile application design (150)

Everything needed to be very clear and easy to understand is even more important than on a PC. First of all mobile screens tend to be smaller and this can lead to difficulties of fitting everything on screen. Secondly bwteen there is a growing expectation that a company will have an app on top of a website as more and more people carry out the majority of their online activity on hand held mobile devices. 

 

In the past, your competition was on the same tweet as you or even the next city. Firms could be a little awkward and still keep their customer as going elsewhere took a lot of effort. But now the competition is just a few clicks away. As Krug says, users can easily leave a find a similar service. Firms needs to make sure that their mobile application service to easy to use and understand to keep their customers and gain new ones. 

 

Idea 2 Paul Krug – Billboard Design 101

The basic concept of chapter 3 is that designers should piggyback on already established designs from other websites and applications so that users know instinctively how to use their service. Designers are advised to use conventions such as using a basket symbol to suggest an users shopping cart. The primary toolbar and menu should be at the top of  the screen and not at the bottom.

 

The second idea from the chapter is to break the screen into clearly defined areas. Doing this helps users decide quickly what part of the website they are hoping to use and where to focus their energy.

 

Finally, the website should use a “clear visual hierarchy”. The visual hierarchy needs to perfectly clear on a website. From headings to subheadings all the way down to individual products. Things should also be labeled in ways that makes sense. For example, level 1 and level 2 categories should be labeled in alphabetical order. For example, clicking on sports should bring up a list of sports like Basketball, Cricket, Darts, Football and Judo. Or sports should be group into categories such as indoor, field, fighting etc.

 

 

Idea 2 Paul Krug - Relevant to mobile application design

The major advantage of this is that designers don’t into the issue of having to design a platform for beginners, intermediates and experts. This means that designed can be streamlined in a very clear manner. Again this is vital when dealing with smaller screens and a lack of patience with users. Reduced functionality means the application has less to do and to store and this in theory should make the application quicker to use. Such a design method can help users become less overwhelmed. 

 

The idea of splitting the sreen up is of high important. Designers need space between different sections so that the different buttons are easy to use. An application that has buttons on top of each other to the point that it is hard to select the one you want without selecting another is  frustrating. 

 

 

Idea 1 Norman – Learnability

This is effectively how easy the application is to use and learn for new users. The better the learnability, the easier the software is to learn for new users, in this case, wait staff. The software can be easier to learn with the help of several factors, such as making individual buttons to complete critical actions easily findable. 

 

Similar to what Krug writes, Norman stares that essential action/buttons should be easily findable, laid out well on screen and labelled clearly so that staff don’t make many mistakes like accidentally deleting an order. As mentioned by Krug applications are their buttons can de deigned in a way that makes it obvious as to what they do. These alterations are often known as affordances. Affordances are items that are perceivable in a way that instantly suggest a specific action.

 

 

Idea 1 Norman – Relevant to mobile application design

Failing to make any service easy to learn will make it into a very frustrating experience for users. Depending on the situation this could lead to users making lots of mistakes. For example, if it was difficult to use the Uber Eats application users might not be able to order what they want. It would be very annoying if it hard to figure how to order two portions of chips. This might happen if there was no little plus symbol or a drop down menu to add to the order. Instead the user would have to make order an do back to the start and do it again. Situations like this will make users use a different application and coust in this case Uber and the restaurant a sale.  

 

Idea 2 Norman – Signifiers, mapping and constraints

Signifiers tell users where the action should take place on screen. These work as clues to users of what to do in certain situations to complete certain tasks. They tell users how to behave. Mapping refers to layout of where buttons are placed on screen and why they are placed in such places. As Krug mentions, users benefit when things are where they expect. Finally constraints refer to restrictions of what is possible inn terms of available technology, screen space and well as human factors such as their cultural background, cognitive ability and technological savviness.  

 

 

Idea 2 Norman – Relevant to mobile application design

This is relevant to all application design. If we take cognitive abilities. An wonderfully well thought out and beautifully designed application is little good if there is something that makes it extremely hard to understand. For example, it is well and good putting great effort into the order of ideas in a drop down menu, but it is useless if users can get the dropdown menu to appear easily. In terms of mapping, there is no point of letting users put items in their basket if they can’t find it. Again such things can happen on small screens as designers try and fit in what is most important. It is very important as Alan Cooper writes to understand the goals of users. This should help designers map out what is important on screen. 

 

Summary 

This answered has laid out two ideas from each writer. It has then explained why each is important to mobile application design while using real world examples when relevant for greater context.