The Design of Future Things

Citation

Flynn, L.R. (2010), "The Design of Future Things", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 68-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610421011018437

Donald A. Norman is a psychologist and designer with a history at Apple Computer and a professorship at Northwestern University. He is the author of many books and scientific monographs. This, his newest book, is a popular look at how the relationship between man and machine continues to evolve.

We live in a present day where machines surround, and to a certain extent, govern us. Even though our desktop computers are faster and more versatile than ever, we still yearn for, or at least imagine, a world with walking talking robots. We want them to be our friends and do our dirty work for us. We want them to wait on us and clean our houses. Where are the friendly machines we saw on tv and in the movies 50 years ago?

Donald A. Norman brings an insider's perspective to the discussion. He is an expert on human/machine interaction. In this book, through vignettes and anecdotes, he presents the successes and failures of the interfaces we live with every day in the developed world. While there are many examples in the book, the most poignant are both fictional. One story tells of a man stuck in a traffic roundabout. He wants to veer out of the circle into the outside lane, but because of traffic the car senses that it is unsafe to do so and refuses to let the driver turn. Police find the man disoriented and dehydrated after fourteen hours in the traffic circle. The car was protecting the driver. The car was designed to be “smarter” than the driver. The second vignette is a supposed conversation between Norman and a machine. The machine describes interaction between people and machines from the machine's point of view. The machines feel they are smarter than people and mostly want them out of the way where the people can be protected and aided. The machines are paternalistic!

I came away from this book thinking about what it means for marketing and new product development. The message is this: machines do best in very simple environments where nothing unexpected can go wrong. Machines are not “smart.” Designers are smart but not smart enough yet to build machines that respond to all possible environmental surprises. People are smart but easily distracted. Machines do best in tightly controlled environments and help most when they boost the abilities of people or remind them to pay attention when distracted. For marketers this problem has arisen before. It is the problem of telling people what is best for them. Consumers do not want to hear about how they should consume what they do not want to consume. People do not want their refrigerator to tell them what they should or should not be eating … or even worse, not LET them eat what they want. Designers should focus on bringing products to market which release people from the mundane or dangerous. They should aim for products that augment not take over. Designers should let the people be the decision makers and leave the drudgery to the machines.

I would recommend this book to anyone teaching or practicing new product development and design. It is easy to read and does an excellent job of bringing an engineering mindset back around to the way people function and what they really want and need.