Essays & Articles
Engineers and business executives are good at solving problems, but they seldom ask if it is the correct problem.
Human- and humanity-centered designers are trained to address the core, underlying factors, not just the symptoms.
Design must change from being unintentionally destructive to being intentionally constructive
From "Design for a Better World." last paragraph of Chapter 2 (page 13).
Failures? No — Learning Experiences
We scientists (and designers) learn from our failures. In fact, scientists seldom fail. Instead, they say “that didn’t work. Time to try something new.” I prefer never to talk of failure. Instead, I say “that...
Don Norman
Simplicity is in the mind, complexity is in the world.
If you understand something, then even things that are complex become simple. The complexity of the product must match the complexity of the task.
Don Norman in the book "Living with Complexity."
I learn more by being wrong than by being right
When people praise my ideas it is nice to hear, but I don’t learn anything. If people disagree, I learn. If they convince me, I am thankful and I change. If I believe I was...
Don Norman
If you can think of a clever solution in a few hours, assume many others have already done so
If you can think of a clever new concept or solution to an existing problem in a few minutes or hours, then you should recognize that many people all over the world, many who have...
Don Norman
Make it Simple? No! Make it Understandable.
Make it Simple? No! Make it Understandable. When people make things "simple" by minimizing controls, they make it much more difficult to work or to understand.
Simplicity is in the mind, Complexity is in the world. Why? Things you understand are simple.
It is the designer’s job to take complex requirements and make them so understandable and appropriate that they are pronounced “simple.”
Don Norman
The universe is made of stories, not atoms
A quote from the poet Muriel Rukeyzer’s book “The speed of darkness.” Why stories? Because they combine history and context, critical events and results, both good and bad, expected and unexpected all linked through causal...
Don Norman
You are being too logical, I often tell engineers and executives.
“You are being too logical,” I explain. “People are not logical. Logic is artificial. It was invented by mathematicians and philosophers. It is not how people think, which is why it is so difficult for...
Design for people the way they are, not for how you want them to be.
Next generation air-conditioners
SustainableTwo publications discuss how better air conditioners can make a better world, especially as the impacts of climate change are already here. Moreover, the high temperatures already being experienced will only get worse. When Heat...
July 29, 2023
3 minutes read
United Nations
ActionSustainable Development Goals https://sdgs.un.org/goals The UN’s SDGs The United Nations has multiple websites. I highly recommend spending time on this site (the URL is directly below the image of the 19 goals). There is a...
June 15, 2023
3 minutes read
Electric Power: Wind, Water, Sun. (and Nuclear)
Books And Other General ReadingsMark Jacobson’s compelling argument that we must almost all energy sources to be electric. Jacobson, M. Z. (2023). No miracles needed: How today’s technology can save our climate and clean our air. Cambridge, United Kingdom...
May 18, 2023
4 minutes read
The DBW Toolkit (for Learners and Teachers, Both)
ActionFrom the Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF). My Videos plus text by IxDF to cover the major points of the book, with considerable supplementary material.
May 1, 2023
2 minutes read
Engineers and business executives are good at solving problems, but they seldom ask if it is the correct problem.
Human- and humanity-centered designers are trained to address the core, underlying factors, not just the symptoms.
Design must change from being unintentionally destructive to being intentionally constructive
From "Design for a Better World." last paragraph of Chapter 2 (page 13).
Failures? No — Learning Experiences
We scientists (and designers) learn from our failures. In fact, scientists seldom fail. Instead, they say “that didn’t work. Time to try something new.” I prefer never to talk of failure. Instead, I say “that...
Don Norman
Simplicity is in the mind, complexity is in the world.
If you understand something, then even things that are complex become simple. The complexity of the product must match the complexity of the task.
Don Norman in the book "Living with Complexity."
I learn more by being wrong than by being right
When people praise my ideas it is nice to hear, but I don’t learn anything. If people disagree, I learn. If they convince me, I am thankful and I change. If I believe I was...
Don Norman
If you can think of a clever solution in a few hours, assume many others have already done so
If you can think of a clever new concept or solution to an existing problem in a few minutes or hours, then you should recognize that many people all over the world, many who have...
Don Norman
Make it Simple? No! Make it Understandable.
Make it Simple? No! Make it Understandable. When people make things "simple" by minimizing controls, they make it much more difficult to work or to understand.
Simplicity is in the mind, Complexity is in the world. Why? Things you understand are simple.
It is the designer’s job to take complex requirements and make them so understandable and appropriate that they are pronounced “simple.”
Don Norman
The universe is made of stories, not atoms
A quote from the poet Muriel Rukeyzer’s book “The speed of darkness.” Why stories? Because they combine history and context, critical events and results, both good and bad, expected and unexpected all linked through causal...
Don Norman
You are being too logical, I often tell engineers and executives.
“You are being too logical,” I explain. “People are not logical. Logic is artificial. It was invented by mathematicians and philosophers. It is not how people think, which is why it is so difficult for...
Design for people the way they are, not for how you want them to be.
Behavioral Economics: Policy impact and future directions
ArtificialFrom the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2023). Behavioral economics: Policy impact and future directions. The National Academies Press. http://nap.nationalacademies.org/26874 An extremely important review of Behavioral...
April 26, 2023
3 minutes read
Journals
Books And Other General ReadingsSustainability JSTOR JSTOR Home JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. The name, JSTOR,...
April 13, 2023
3 minutes read
Climate Change: Organizations whose focus is climate change
ActionProject Drawdown https://drawdown.org/ Project Drawdown is both an organization dedicated to deal with Climate Change as well as a book. Hawken, P. (2017). Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. New...
April 13, 2023
3 minutes read
Disposable clay coffee cups: Are they truly waste free?
SustainableThis fascinating story suggests that clay cups modeled after the ones from the Indus valley in India are free from harm to the ecology. Maybe. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/3d-printing-startup-crushes-recycling-with-disposable-clay-cups-inspired-by-the-5-000-year-old-kulhar-6dded3fa GaeStar is a startup (https://gaeastar.com/) making 3D printed cups...
April 10, 2023
4 minutes read
Creating a New Moral Economy
Human BehaviorHuman Behavior, Corporate profit, and Morality Daedalus is the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It is published four times a year, with each issue devoted to deep examination of a single...
April 2, 2023
7 minutes read
Foundations and Organizations
ActionThat you can join, subscribe to, participate in projects, or even get a Job Ellen MacArthur Foundation https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/ The Ellen MacArthur foundation (EMF) is one of the leaders championing the Circular Economy to eliminate waste...
March 29, 2023
10 minutes read
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