By Erica Kallas
Marketing Associate, Lessiter Media
ekallas@lessitermedia.com
262-777-2448
We’ve all had the awkward experience of pushing a door that pulls. Or pulling a door that pushes because it has a handle that you know pulls, so it should open that way, right? This common frustration has one cause: Norman Doors.
Norman Doors — a term coined by Don Norman in his book, The Design of Everyday Things — are doors with confusing usability features and signs. These doors, at their core, are poorly designed and can lead to the awkward experience mentioned above. Norman is a design thinker responsible for the definition of user experience and many of its design principles. In his book he emphasizes the importance of “human-centered design,” which places customers in the heart of all processes.
Beyond physical design, Norman Doors appear in all fields as insufficient communication
between companies and customers. To tie-in a more relatable business scenario, have you ever found yourself setting up a new password for a website, only to be told after the fact that you need to have a capital letter, a number, a special character and has to be at least 10 characters long? Key information that would have been helpful up front, but is far too often communicated after a customer has already become frustrated, confused, or worst of all, abandons it all together.
In this infographic, I explore a few ways to avoid Norman Doors in your communication efforts and ensure intuitive experiences for your customers.
Need some help reviewing your customer user experience? Drop us a line and we’d be happy to take a look and provide some feedback.
