Welcome to jnd.org, home for my (Don Norman) writings, musing, reviews, and contact information. (What is jnd?). I post my publications (where permitted), excerpts from my books, commentary, and various musings.
I spend half my time with the Nielsen Norman group consulting for industry to produce enjoyable and effective products and services, half my time teaching in two programs at Northwestern University, a one-year graduate program leading to an MS degree in Engineering Design and Innovation (MS-EDI) and in MMM, the two-year joint MBA / Engineering degree program between Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern Engineering that focuses upon Design and Operations, half my time serving on advisory boards, and half my time writing and publishing. And two months each year as a Visiting Professor of Industrial Design at KAIST, in Daejeon, South Korea.
Books
I intended my next book to be "Sociable Design" (See Sociable Design and The Psychology of Waiting Lines) but my publisher had a different idea: See "People are from earth, machines are from outer space."). I'm hard at working transforming the former into the latter
I argue in favor of complexity, against the simple-minded notion that things should be simple. Simplicity is boring. We want richness and depth in our lives. Moreover, the world and our activities are inherently complex, so the tools we use must match that complexity. Arguments against compexity are misplaced, i argue (see my essay "Simplicity is not the answer.") We don't want confusion, perplexity, and confusion. Thatis, we want our complex tools and activities to be understandable.
Translations of my books keep appearing. A Portugese (Editora Rocco, Brazil) translation of "Emotional Design" is out as are Japanese and Taiwanese translations of "Design of Future Things." A Mainland Chinese translation (uiGarden: Mainland China) ), as well as translations in Brazil, Italy, Korea, and Spain are underway. Greece is working on a translation of "Design of Everyday Things," which will make it the twelfth country to publish it.
ReQall:
I am officially empowered as "Chief Mentor" of reQall. Call reQall from any phone and speak whatever you want to remember. It then shows up in your email as text, as a voice message, and on a website. Even automatically on your calendar. We worked hard to make it really simple, to eliminate all the features that came to mind. No features, therefore no fuss. Simple and powerful. Developed by a team, some of whom worked with me at Apple. Neat. (The iPhone implementation is cool. I myself use the special Blackberry application.) It is also a teamwork tool. Free.
New Development: reQall is now an active memory assistant, using time or your location to remind you. Read all about it in a review by David Pogue in the New York Times.
Schedule
To schedule me for talks, interviews, or consulting, see Press Kit.
Conferences of general interest:
- June 15-17, 2009. Keynote. UX London Conference. London, UK
- October 19-22, 2009. International Association of Societies of Design Research conference (IASDR 2009), Seoul, Korea.
- November 9-11, 2009. Keynote: Business of Software 2009. San Francisco, CA
- April 10-15, 2010: Annual SIGCHI Conference: Human Factors in Computing Systems. Atlanta, GA. (I may not be able to attend because of my teaching committments at Northwestern.)
My Talks. (Some consulting engagements and board meeting are not shown either because they are not public or because of confidentiality agreements.).
- June 15, 2009. Keynote. UX London Conference. London, UK
- October 19-22, 2009. International Association of Societies of Design Research conference (IASDR 2009), Seoul, Korea.
- November 9, 2009. Keynote: Business of Software 2009. San Francisco, CA
In Praise of Good Design
the complete set is in "In praise of good design." Send products to praise to
No bashing -- just praise. Physical products preferred.
Recent Book Reviews
(the complete set is in "Recommended readings.")
Sudjik: The language of things
Here is the blurb I wrote for the back cover of this book. It is already available in the UK and will be relased in the United States in 2009. Sudjic is the director of the Design Museum in London (one of my favorite museums). How do I sum up this book? "Witty and sophisticated," or is it "seriously funny." A deep penetrating look at the ever-perilous battle among the competing forces of art, fashion, and practicality that designers...
Design Journals
I am often asked - and I often myself wonder - what research journals I should be reading in the design. here is a short list of ones I find valuable, only one of which (The International Journal of Design) is available on the internet without subscription.
The race for perfect
An engaging tale of the product development process, this time following the developments in laptop computers, mostly focusing upon the efforts of the ThinkPad team from Lenovo to develop their lightweight X300 portable. Steve Hamm is a senior writer for Business Week, with good contacts and a good sense of drama. The book covers the aims and history of portables from Alan Kay's dream of the "Dynabook" through today. The story demonstrates that reality is very different from dreams, and the quest for perfection with the need to hit a product price and delivery schedule is daunting. The story also reveals much about the international nature of product development: Lenovo is a Chinese company, but the development team was in Beijing, Tokyo, and the United States (North Carolina).
Recent Essays
(The complete set is in "Essays.") (Updated March 24, 2009)
Selective Memories (Metropolis Magazine article)
"Life is filled with unpleasant experiences. Not only do we survive them, but in hindsight we tend to minimize the bad and amplify the good." This is the start of my essay "Selective Memories" published by Metropolis Magazine.
My TED talk
TED is a fascinating conference. I've given two talks there over the years and serve on their advisory board. TED used to be a by-invitation conference only, but now it is open to anyone who can afford the rather outrageous registration fee. Recently, TED has begun to make their talks available to anyone. I highly recommend exploring the site: there are some truly amazing, profound talks available: TED is at ted.com. My talk from 2003 is on "Design and Emotion" (based...
People Are From Earth, Machines Are From Outer Space
People are from earth. Machines are from outer space. I don't know what kind of manners they teach in outer space, but if machines are going to live here in our world, they really need to learn to behave properly. You know, when on Earth, do as the earthlings do. So, hey machines, you need to become socialized. Right now you are arrogant, antisocial, irritating know-it-alls. Sure, you say nice things like “please” and “thank you,” but being polite involves more than words. It is time to socialize our interactions with technology. Sociable machines. Basic lessons in communication skills. Rules of machine etiquette. Machines need to show empathy with the people with whom they interact, understand their point of view, and above all, communicate so that everyone understands what is happening.It never occurs to a machine that the problems might be theirs. Oh no. It's us pesky people who are to blame.
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