The author, Don Norman don@jnd.org
As I wrote "The Invisible Computer," I was
struck by a paradox. On the one hand, there is very
substantial agreement that ease of use and
understandability are important. Similarly, good
industrial design; simple, short documentation, and
convenient, pleasing products are superior. I wondered
why, if ease of use and understandability seems so
important, much of the computer technology today violates
all these things - yet the companies prosper. In fact,
Apple Computer, the one company that tried hardest to
make products that were easy to use, understandable and
with sophisticated aesthetics driving both graphical
design on the screen and industrial design of the
products, has failed to win market share. So why is it
that good products can fail and inferior products can
succeed? This became the theme for the book.
The story is complex: it takes a book to explain. But
there are three themes.
One: A successful product must be balanced: marketing,
technology, and user experience all play critical roles,
but one cannot dominate the others.
Two: There is a big difference between infrastructure
products, which I call non-substitutable goods, and
traditional products, substitutable goods. With
traditional goods, a company can survive with a stable,
but non-dominant market share. Coke and Pepsi both
survive. Cereals and soaps have multiple brands. With
infrastructure goods, there can be just one. MS-DOS won
over the Macintosh OS, and that was that. MS-DOS
transitioned to Windows, and the dominance continued. VHS
tape triumphed over Beta. Most infrastructures are
dictated by the government, which assures agreement to a
single standard. When there is no standard, as in AM
stereo or digital cellular options in the US, there is
chaos.
Three: Different factors are important at different
stages in the development of a technology. In the early
days, technology dominates. Who cares if it is easy to
use? All that matters is better, faster, cheaper, more
powerful technology. In the middle stages, marketing
dominates. And in the end, the mature stages, the
technology is a commodity. User experience can dominate,
user experience and marketing. As in soap and cereal. As
in watches. Swatch sells its watches for their emotional
appeal, not their accuracy: accuracy is taken for
granted.
The computer industry is now mature. The customers
want convenience and value for their money. They want
ease of use, emotional appeal. But the computer companies
are all teenagers, resisting the pressures to grow up.
Too bad. The customer is not well served.
