Interviews

A UX Cake podcast "Design a Better World," hosted by Leigh Allen-Arredondo. What did I talk about? Mainly why, and how, designers and researchers in our discipline should be changing the world.

What kind of designer am I? After years of trying to explain what I do, I decided to name it: I'm a Cognitive Designer. Never heard of it? Of course not:

One summary of the UC San Diego Design Lab's philosophy on healthcare is "Don't Drop the Patient." What do we mean by "Dropping the patient"

Chunka Mui wrote to say he was writing an article on autonomous cars and asked for my thoughts.He published his article in Forbes , and before I knew it, I was suddenly front

A two part audio interview with Per Axbom and James Royal-Lawson of UX Podcast. Part 1 covers virtual and augmented reality, design thinking, radical innovations and "user experience." http://uxpodcast.com/

A video that is both instructional and fun. The article text concludes by saying "Don Norman's seminal book on design, The Design of Everyday Things, ... (p)ublished 25 years ago, it remains just as relevant today. Doors shouldn't need instructions. When most people complain about something, noth...

My work today focuses upon design a complex sociotechnical systems, with an emphasis on healthcare. This hour video describes my thoughts as of 2015. My keynote address at the Relating Systems Thinking and Design conference in 2015 was on this topic. Here is the one-hour video....

Robert Lemos from TechBeacon has written an excellent article on the tradeoff between security and usability: Security and usability go hand in hand: 5 tips to get the development mix right. I'm obviously biased because he spent a lot of time discussing the issues with me (and used many of my ...

My Op-Ed piece for the San Diego Union-Tribune for September 26, 2015. ... Ready for cars with computers as driver? No? Good, because the computers aren't ready either. But have no doubt, they are coming. ... The tremendous saving of lives and injuries is strong support for the development of aut...

I was once proud to be at Apple, proud of Apple's reputation of advancing ease of use and understanding. Alas, these attributes are fast disappearing from their products in favor of pretty looks, or as designers call it "styling." A journalist has just reported my views. And Bruce Tognazzini and ...

I recently took part in the 10th Anniversary celebration of Maria Grazia Mattei's "Meet the Media Guru" program based in Milan, Italy (I was her guest in 2010).  As

John Pavlus, a writer and filmmaker focusing on science, tech, and design topics, interviewed me for an article he was writing for Fast Company. It is now published with the endearing title "How Email Became The Most Reviled Communication Experience Ever." ...

Mariko Hewer of the Association for Psychological Science interviewed me and wrote a nice discussion of the role that psychology should be playing in design. Too much of psychological research is abstract and over-specialized, that when it comes to answering what appear to be simple questions, th...

CNN filmed me talking about Emotional Design. Then they pieced together a 3 1/3 minute video of me wandering about, tugging at my beard, and uttering sound bites. http://www.cnn.com/

Heather Miller of AutoDesk interviewed me for AutoDesk's Line/Shape/Space magazine. She entitled the article "Inside My Design Mind: Don Norman, Human-Centered Design Leader, [http://lineshapespace.com/inside-my-design-mind-don-norman-human-centered-design/] "

I am pleased to announce that Diversion Books has released Things That Make Us Smart as an inexpensive eBook: US $4.99. Available in multiple formats, including Kindle, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google (MOBI and EPUB). ...

I am pleased to announce that Diversion Books has released my book of essays, Turn Signals Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles, as an inexpensive eBook: US $4.99. Available in multiple formats, including Kindle, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google (MOBI and EPUB). ...

I'm delighted to show a demo of our food start-up, Palate Home, to TechCrunch....

James Brandon, a contributing editor at Inc. magazine, produced two columns after interviewing me: "How to Make Sure Average People Can Use Your Product" and "One Word the Best Product Designers Never Use." ...

I am pleased to say that I'm the cover story of iDeia design, a Brazilian magazine on design. (The interview -- and the magazine -- is in Portuguese.)...

Vision building is the most relevant and rare asset in our society. We do not live in a world where data and knowledge are missing. Indeed, it is just the opposite. The amount of information is overwhelming. What is rare is the capability to make sense of this enormous and complex picture, to go ...

Innovations like facial recognition or biometric sensors promise a world of 'emotion-sensing tech' that knows how you feel. It can be used to respond to you more appropriately, but can it be used to improve your emotional intelligence? With interaction designer Jennifer Dunnam, user experience de...

Brendan Vance, a game developer and blogger, has written a very nice critique of modern games that he calls "The cult of the peacock." But I do disagree with his complaint about the lack of manuals. Few people ever read manuals -- as is well illustrated in Vance's discussion about them. This is...

An interview with Luke Swenson for UX Magazine. [http://uxmag.com/articles/solving-the-right-problem-and-finding-your-own-solution-an-interview-with-don-norman] "One of the important skills a good designer [http://uxmag.com/topics/design] brings to the table is figuring

An interview with Antony Funnell on Wearable Technology for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Available as streaming audio or Download. (Includes interviews with: Sandy Pentland, Billie Whitehouse, me, Gesche Joost, and Ben Moir)....

"In this interview, Don Norman explains the importance of designing for the right audience, the role of the generalist and the specialist. He also reveals what makes good product design and why you should ask the stupid questions." (Streaming audio or download.)...

Rani Molla of Gigaom, the technology newsletter, recently interviewed me about the new edition of DOET, the MOOC I am doing for the book, the new food appliance startup (Palate Home), and other topics. She did a great job of finding photos -- I didn't provide them, gigaom got them. ...

Georgia Tech's First-Year Reading Program selected Living with Complexity as the book that all incoming freshmen (about 2500), and many others, read and then discuss in various venues - see http://enrichment.gatech.edu/2013-reading ...

John Maeda, now president of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) had a public, semi-moderated discussion with me at a PARC Forum. The video is now available. I wanted to talk about complex design: interaction design, design planning, etc. He wanted to talk about the beauty of fonts, of knive...

Gerd Waloszek of SAP User Experience has written a very nice, intelligent review of Living with Complexity. He neatly summarizes the major theme thusly: "Norman's book is entitled Living with Complexity for good reason: The author does not advocate substituting complexity with simplicity. (As w...

I was interviewed by Neil Briscoe for an article in IrishTimes.com: Is the love affair about to end? "Are cars as we know them to become a thing of the past?" asks the article. Where is the room for "Driving passion"? The question, Briscoe points out, is whether we can continue to have single p...

This is a short, 3 minute video, that captures the dilemma of modern education. Engineering education has become narrower and deeper. We teach and train specialties and specialists. Practical applications require tying together the knowledge of the many specialties. They require generalists, peop...

This essay shows the continuing saga of opinions about Microsoft's new 8 series: Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows 8 on tablet and desktop. Summary: At first I was enthusiastic. Now I have more nuanced opinions. This has several updates to an earlier interview with me about Microsoft's Win...

Steelcase celebrated its 100th anniversary by asking 100 people to write essays about their dreams for the next 100 years. It is an impressive list of people and i am honored to be one of them. My essay, my dream is "the rise of the small." Here is the start: I dream of the power of individuals...

Out with the Old, In with the New: A Conversation with Don Norman & Jon Kolko, mediated by Richard Anderson. The item contains photos, a transcript, and an embedded video of the event. Topics addressed included the nature of and the difference between art and design, whether design should be tau...

Pointers to my talk videos, podcasts, and interviews....

Jeremy Anwyl,CEO of Edmunds.com, called me up to ask if I would like to be interviewed while reviewing the new SYNC control system for Ford Motor Company. summary: The modern car is far too complex, thus creating potential dangerous conditions. Instead of concentrating on the road, the driver co...

My videos have been resurrected!  Let me explain. One upon a time, many years ago -- 1994 to be precise -- The Voyager Company produced a delightful CD-ROM that included copies of several

Want magazine inteviewed me in my Palo Alto, California home. The very nice interview that resulted was posted on May 14, 2010 at http://wantmag.com/release/001/2010/05/don-norman/...

I'm giving the opening keynote address at  IIT's Institute of Design's Design Research Conference [http://trex.id.iit.edu/events/drc/2010/] (Chicago, May 2010). The conference

Business Week has developed a list of what they call the World's  27 Most Influential Designers [http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/02/0201_worlds_most_influential_designers/22.htm] . I&

My MIT Sloan Management Review paper on waiting lines [http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/articles/2009/summer/50407/designing-waits-that-work/] is finally out: Norman, D. A. (2009). Designing waits that work. MIT Sloan Management

DWELL Magazine asked me to judge bathroom faucets. I got to read the literature on them and examine each one (and read the literature), but they were all on a table in front

Here is my talk on User Experience at the Adaptive Path conference on UX in 2008.

TED is a fascinating conference. I've given two talks there over the years and serve on their advisory board. TED used to be a by-invitation conference only, but now it is

On PBS's Tech Nation with Dr. Moira Gunn, 10 July 2001 [http://www.technation.com/pages/programs2001.html] I spar with Jakob Nielsen on PBS's "Tech Nation."

elearningpost, 15 Feb 2002 [http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/norman.asp] Interview on learner-centered design and other relevant issues

On NPR's Science Friday with Ira Flatow, 1 Feb 2002 [http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2002/Feb/hour2_020102.html] Debate on Design with Michael Graves and Henry Petroski on the

By Nicolas Mokhoff, EE Times, 29 Oct. 2001 EE Times article about my PopTech 2001 conference debate

By Alfred Hermida, BBC News Online, 15 Jan. 2002 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1761000/1761289.stm] BBC interviews me about the new iMac

By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY, 2 Feb 2002 [http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/11/robotics.htm] I'm an advisor to Evolution Robotics. (Be sure to watch

[Ergonomics: A "cantankerous visionary" strives to put consumers first in a wireless world. May 24 2002. (The URL gets you to the home page: find the search box and search for

On the value of Beauty, fun, and pleasure in design [http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/d_norman_2.html].

interview "Designed for Life." [http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns23631]

Katie Hafner decries the rise of everyday complexity in her New York Times article [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/circuits/24boot.html] "There are times when I feel that

Report on my September 2003 talk (the report is in Japanese). [http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2003/09/01/06.html]

Jo Twist's interview with me for BBC News. (And yes, she really did beam when I showed her my Namiki (Pilot) fountain pen.) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/

Interview published 24 Oct. 2003 in L'Espresso (in Italian) with Arianna Dagnino, discussing my talk at the Institute for Interactive design, Ivrea and the (fascinating) research being done there. But while

Article on the role of emotion in learning (the article is really about distance or electronic learning). In the ACM's eLearn journal. [http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage/sub_page.cfm?article_

(January, 2004) Describes my work and "Emotional Design. The emphasis is skewed toward the last two chapters -- emotion in machines, and hence, the article is entitled "Why machines should fear.

(January 5, 2004.) "Emotions run high for 'Knute Rockne of tech' " [http://www.suntimes.com/output/krauss/cst-fin-krauss05.html] "He's a coach showing us new ways

(January 2004) Interview with Cliff Atkinson. [http://beyondbulletpoints.com/norman-calls-tuftes-ppt-criticisms-nonsense/] If you've been keeping up with PowerPoint criticism in the news lately, you'll be interested to hear what usability

(February, 2004) "The major challenge ... Norman explains in this well-illustrated survey of the emotional drivers in product design, is that customers' responses vary so greatly. Product designers need to tailor their

(January, 2004). "The book pops with fresh paradigms, applying scientific rigor to our romance with the inanimate. You'll never see housewares the same way again." Wired Magazine

(Feb. 12, 2004 (San Diego). 47 minutes of streaming audio [http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail69.html] (they didn't seem to have recorded the video).

(March 30, 2004): My 9 minutes of fame. Alas, TechTV is out of business, so my 9 minutes didn't last 9 months. But I did preserve the video (low-quality) of my

Psychology Today Magazine. [http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/pto-20040209-000009.asp] 'An uncooperative PC violates our expectations,' says psychologist and computer scientist Donald Norman, author of Emotional Design.

Article from The Guardian (UK): "Former Apple fellow and design guru Don Norman has been influential on and offline. He tells Jack Schofield why products should now start making us smile. ..."

Avi Parush of Carelton University's (Canada) Human Oriented Technology Lab interviewed me about mental models. NOTE: Sadly the interview with Avi Parush is no longer available.

Jeff Karoub of "smalltimes.com" interviewed me, among others, and put together this nice essay When technology is too good [http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?section_id=29&

Years ago, I wrote a book of essays entitled "Turn Signals Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles." Didn't sell well, so now it is out of print. But, hey,

It's nice to be quoted, but not when the quote is out of context, or when I am described inaccurately. Strategiy.com has posted an opinion piece about Apple, in which

You might enjoy reading the these predictions about the future of electronic learning: in the ACM Magazine, eLearn. [http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=16-1] After this was published,

An interview with Javier Cañada and Marco van Hout for the Dutch magazine Product. The magazine is in Dutch, but the interview, Q & A with Don Norman [http://www.design-emotion.com/2004/

Karina Meerman, one of the editors of the new Dutch magazine MacFreak interviewed me about my philosophy of design and my take on the "new" Apple Computer. Here is a pdf

I am continualy amazed at the wide variety of places my work gets applied to. Here is a fascinating example from landscape design, taken from the "Daily on-line California," the on-line

Forbes.com is writing a 20-day series of articles [http://www.forbes.com/home/personaltech/2005/08/04/technology-tools-methodology_cx_de_0804meth.html] on "the 20 tools which have had the biggest

Don Fernandez of the San Diego Union wrote an entertaining — but very true — article about all those annoying beeps and blips our electronic equipment continually deliver to us. Annoying and confusing. Wayne Freedman

An interview with me is now available to my Chinese readers on Sina web. Alas, I can't tell you any more about it than that as it is in Chinese. The

An interview with Christina Li, Founder and Editor in Chief of the Chinese wesbite group uiGarden ("Weaving usability and cultures"). English version [http://www.uigarden.net/english/when-norman-meets-chinese] Chinese version [http:

The Student Chapter of HFES (Human Factors & Ergonomics Society) from the University of Central Florida are trying to raise money, so they have created a calendar for 2006 (I'm September)

In the November 1, 2005 issue of USA Today, [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2005-11-01-usability-cover_x.htm?csp=34] Ed Baig has a nice story on the confusion and difficulty of using

December 5, 2005. Digital Living Room Summit, San Mateo, California. I'm was on the panel moderated by David Pogue of the New York Times, called “Plug and Pray,” about “the inability

Bruce Nussbaum, of Business Week finally discovered my essay "Industrial Design: Claims without Substance," [https://don-normans-jnd-org.ghost.io/dn.mss/industrial_design_claims_without_substance.html]and discussed it in his

Erin Massey of the <a title="Chicago Tribune (registration required)" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0512260239dec26,1,484946.story?coll=chi-techtopheds-hed" target="_self"><em>Chicago Tribune</em> newspaper (registration required)</a> has written a nice article on the importa...

While I was in Philadelphia, I appeared on Marty Moss-Coane's National Public Radio interview show, Radio Times. We had a delightful one-hour broadcast, starting off with watches and ending up, well,

I am honored to be the 2006 recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. Among the activities at the ceremonial week was a seminar and a very nice video that summarized my approach to design. These are now available on the Franklin Institute website. This note prov...

I presented the Shocker lecture to the New Product Design and Business Development group at the University of Minnesota. They have made a video of that lecture available on their website....

Quotations from Ben Romano's article in the Seattle Times [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003253046_vistadesign11.html] (Sep. 11, 2006) on computer hardware design. "Apple Computer has shown that

A two-part podcast of my discussions with John Edson, President of Lunar Design, recorded at their Palo Alto, California design office. NOTE: Sadly a link the podcast with John Edson is no longer

Yet another title to add to my collection. I appeared on the American news show <em>60 Minutes </em>where I was called <em>the uber geek.</em> Is that above or below a guru? An expert? An opinionated person?...

Normally I don't comment upon on link to blogs that talk about me or my work, but this one was too much fun to ignore. One of my Nielsen Norman group

I'm pleased to announce the formation of the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern, where my co-director, Ed Colgate and I hope to create a new set of studies of engineering design:

Ambidextrous magazine [http://www.ambidextrousmag.org/], Stanford University's Journal of Design, has printed an excerpt from the last chapter of my not-yet published book, The Design of Future Things: How to

Dan Turner has written a very informative article about Apple Computer's design process in Technology Review [http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18621/]. He couldn't get access to anyone now

Tal Shay interviewed me for World usability Day; The interview is available both as a transcript and as an audio podcast NOTE: Sadly the interview and transcript are no longer available.

In the Thursday, November 8 2007 edition of <em>Time Magazine,</em> Barbara Kiviat writes: Life is supposed to get easier with new technology. Donald Norman wishes it were really so. Instead, he says, as devices evolve, people wind up befuddled and annoyed. The culprit: bad design, a longtime tar...

Machines have neither motives nor emotions ... Still, machines, appliances and even services have personality traits, if only because they were designed to be conscientious or not, friendly or curt, smooth or abrupt, condescending or understanding, recalcitrant or forgiving....

With each new book comes a deluge of interviews, articles, reviews, and recordings. The latest book, The Design of Future Things, is no exception. Here are the ones I enjoyed the most, from a New York Times article (accompanied by 2 NY Times blogs) to an audio interview with CORE77....

Viele Leute brauchen gar keinen Computer. An interview with Felix Knoke of Spiegel On-Line [http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/0,1518,536340,00.html] is now available (in German). Dateien-Wirrwarr, verwirrende Menüs,

Terry Winograd of Stanford's computer science department and d.school wrote a very nice description of our new Design + Operations MMM program at the Kellogg School of Business and Northwestern Engineering

Jane Black of the Washington Post did her homework well and wrote an engaging essay on new innovations in tableware. "A Knork in the road: On the cutting edge, new designs aim to change the way we eat, one bite at a time." Not only that, she let me have the last word....

Steven Levy lists The Design of Everyday Things as one of the "10 Great Tech Books" in the IEEE Spectrum. [http://spectrum.ieee.org/jul08/6354/3], July 2008. I get