The Invisible Computer

Don Norman, 1998

Technologies have a life cycle, and companies and their products must change as they pass from youth to maturity. Alas, the computer industry thinks it is still in its rebellious teenage years, exulting in technical complexity. Customers want change. They are ready for products that offer convenience, ease of use, and pleasure. The technology should be invisible, hidden from sight.In this book, Norman shows why the computer is so difficult to use and why this complexity is fundamental to its nature. The only answer, says Norman, is to start over again, to develop information appliances that fit people's needs and lives. To do this companies must change the way they develop products. They need to start with an understanding of people: user needs first, technology last--the opposite of how things are done now. Companies need a human-centered development process, even if it means reorganizing the entire company. This book shows how.

Translations

Japanese
Italian
Spanish (Spain)
Korea

Table of Contents

1. Drop Everything You Are Doing (on the MIT Press site)
2. Growing Up: Moving from Technology-Centered to Human-Centered Products (on the MIT Press site)
3. The Move to Information Appliances
4. What's Wrong with the PC?
5. There is No Magical Cure
6. The Power of Infrastructure
7. Being Analog (on jnd.org)
8. Why Is Everything So Difficult to Use?
9. Human-Centered Product Development (on the MIT Press site)
10. Want Human-Centered Design? Reorganize the Company
11. Disruptive Technologies
12. A World of Information Appliances

Appendix: Examples of Information Appliances