Don Norman's jnd.org / Opening Essay

Opening Essay

jnd stands for just noticeable difference: see What is jnd?

jnd.org is the home for my essays, chapters from my books, book reviews, and other miscellany.

I serve on company boards of directors and advisory boards for the Nielsen Norman group, advising on management structure, business models, marketing, and design, the better to produce enjoyable and effective products and services. I am an author. I have taught at KAIST, in Daejeon, South Korea and am Professor emeritus at both the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Northwestern University. I'm also an IDEO Fellow and a trustee of IIT's Institute of Design (in Chicago).

Core77. I'm a columnist for the Design Website, Core77. The complete list and excerpts and pointers can be found on the Essays page of this website under "Core 77" (The last entry in the contents).

My most recent book is Living with Complexity, 2011 (MIT Press, and also available as a Kindle book)

Table of Contents, Cover Photo, and Chapters:

The world and our activities are inherently complex, so our tools must match that complexity. Complexity is necessary: it is confusion and unnecessary complication that should be eliminated.

Company Advising:

reQall

I am officially empowered as "Chief Mentor" of reQall. Available as apps for iPhone, Blackberry, or Android). It provides automatic reminders, organizes lists by key words, allows sharing of reminders, and can give location-specific reminders. Read the CNet discussion and the review by David Pogue in the New York Times.

But now reQall has added a powerful, artificial intelligence aid to organizing your day: reQall Rover: read what one of the journalists who tried it had to say (Kevin Tofel of GigaOM):

Evolution Robotics's Mint

An automatic floor cleaner (for hard floors only: think of it as a robotic Swiffer). See the You-Tube Video. Available for purchase at Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Walmart, best Buy, etc.

UICO
I'm on the Board of UICO, doing 21st century robust, reliable multi-touch interfaces for industry. If iPhone and Android can have sexy dynamic graphical displays with multi-touch sensitivity, why can't your washing machine or the controls for a chemical plant? UICO allows multi-touch control even while wearing gloves, in the rain, or even in the shower.

Ness Computer. Now available for the iPhone: Intelligent, personalized recommendations for restaurants based upon your preferences and those of your friends. Other restaurant systems give you generic advice: Ness is tailored just for your unique preferences. See the reviewshttp://www.likeness.com/press.html.

Intuitive Automata's weight-loss coach (the robot Autom). Now undergoing trials but available for purchase from their website. (This is a Hong-Kong based company, but the product is available in the United states. The work is based on the pioneering PhD dissertation by the company founder, Cory Kidd, at the MIT Media Lab.

BMW Munich. As autos become more and more intelligent and as the drivers and passengers expect more and more access to their personal electronic media and tools, the trick is to manage the experience for both driver and passengers to keep it manageable, engaging, and pleasurable. And above all, safe.

Immersion, a leading player in the development of Haptic technology and software. I'm the chair of their technical Advisory Committee.

Drumaroo, Bangalore's social networking experience. An Indian startup,developed by a former student of mine at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Chicago.

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Opening Essay