Don Norman: good design makes you happy

Don Norman studies how real people interact with design, exploring the gulf between what a designer intends and what a regular person actually wants.
Don Norman is an anthropologist of modern life, studying the way we humans interact with our designed world. Though he has a slight reputation as a grumpy critic, his work is generous and insightful he wants nothing less than to close the gap between products and their users. If you’ve ever fought with an automatic faucet in an airport bathroom, or wondered which button to press in the anonymous row on top of your printer, it’s good to know that Norman is in your corner. He’s the author of a raft of books on design and the way we humans interact with it, including the classic “Design of Everyday Things.” His next book, says his website, will be about sociable design.