The Design of Everyday Things Donald A. Norman re Design of Tt) day Things Aqald A. NormanBARD GRADUATE CENTER” UeRaRy So uiest sth STREET NEWYORK,NY 10024 | THE DESIGN OF EVERYDAY THINGS Donald A. Norman ‘The MIT Press ‘London, Englandet MIT Pt on 08 eet eit ppeck ein © 199 Donald A Noa ‘Tho ny pbs in hardcover by Bae Boks in 08a in papertack by Dowty Came 8 A igh ead No part of is ok my Be eprodied n yey y conc rhein vig Petpying sing oon "antag eva wt perms in wg om Pier rary of Congres Cataging Pon te TBool a eed hinge Thedogn eweryeay Bigs / Onis, Neres cp. rg pub The payclay every thigs. New Yor: inet, 8 Incas ioral fas an ine {Deg dors Preble pec. 2 Maman ng 1 Ta sang is ‘ay2-sa0 SAN 025068076 ak pope) CONTENTS ‘Prtace tothe Paperback Fliton Prface ci: The Paychopatoogy of Brenyay Things ‘ioe The Paycilogy of Bveryday Actions “nue: Keovladge i he Head and nthe Word ous Knowing What to Do vm To Bf Han ‘ax: The Design Challenge sev Une Centred Design Nts gga Readings References Index 29 Eo om asTHE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY THINGS sill rane Digital Bgulpment Corp, confessed at the annusl meting that he can gure out hom to eat cup of coer in the company's microware in € “komo Oe te neo unde ond ‘You Would Need an Engineering Degree to Figure This Out “You would need an eagnoerag degre from MIT to work this." someone once oid me, shaking his head n psstement over his rand rev digital watch. Well 1 have an engineering degree from MIT. (Kennet Olsen ha two of them, an he cant igre out 3 microwave joven) Give mea few hour and Ucan figure out the etch, But why Should take hour Ihave alld with many people wi can't wwe al the fearare of thelr washing machines orcamerst, who can gure out how to work a sewing machine or video catette recorder, who Iabiually turn on the wrong stove burner Why do we put up with the frastrations of everyday objec, with object that Wwe can't gure out how to use, with those neat plastic- ‘wrapped packages that seem imposible to open, with doors that wap peopl, with washing machines and dryers that have become 100 con.‘4. Cartman Coe for Mas Shas The neh ott freq Cae ston in i tne of bose Cage ‘ita iy dnl [ea poids tight example a ay things ha se cera Srwortl ogee or beri Wome egos Caen te Fea for Mth” Copy ‘ot iy nies Clan on RDA eae ram egos Cle tan Cini Ura Ot an, ‘cw Pts re Ue by pei sng to use, with audio-stre-teleislon-video-casete recorders w lin in thelr advortsemenss todo everything. bat that make it host inposible to do anything? “The human mind i exquisitely toed to make wns of the word welt the sights cle and of goes, providing explanation ralion- zation understanding Consider the objecte—books, adios, kitchen pliancer,ofie machines, and ight sontchex—that make up ou e?- yay lives. Well-deigned objects are cay 4 etepret ae under ind, They conan visible che to thee operation. Poorly designed pecs can be dificult ane frstrating to use: They provide ro ches— onnaimes fale clues They trap the user and thwart the normal ecest of interpretation and understanding, Alas, poor eign esdominates. The reales werd led with frstration, with objects at cannot be understood, with devices that lea! oeror. This book. fn atompt to change things “The Frustrations of Everyday Li I ere paced inthe cockpit of a modern et lines, my inability to worm gracefully and smoothly would neither surpisenor bother me Ut Tahoulda’t have trouble with doors and switches, water faucets nd stoves, "Doors? Ian hea the ead saying, “you have trouble be Design oF veryay Things ‘pening doors?” Yes. push door that are meant tobe pulled, pull doers that should be pushed, and walk ino doors that should be si Moreover, Tee others having the same troubles—unnacessary toa bles, Ther ate prychological principles that can be followed 9 make hore things undrrondable and wratle Consider the dace. Thee snot much you can do toa door: you ean open tor shut i Suppose you ar in an ofc balling walking down ‘ cotrdor. You come toa door In which direction desi open? Should you pll er push, on the lft or the sight? Maybe the doo lies. 0, In which direction? Uhave seen doors that se up into the eeling, A door poses only two essential questions: In which direction dows it ‘move? On which side should one work i? The nawers should be given by the design, without any nes for words or rye certainly ih lout any need fr tril and evr. A Bed told me ofthe time he got rapped in the doorway of «post fice ina European cy. The entiance was an posing row of perhaps ‘tx gles singing doors, Followed immeditely by a second Kent! ron. That’ a standard design it helps reduce the airflow and thas _maintsin the indoor temperature of the building (My frend pushed on the side of one of the leftmost pair of outer too I rang inward and he entre the building Thon, before he Could gett the next row of door he was distracted and armed around oranintant Hedidn realize inthe tine, buthe had moved lightly {the ight. So when he came to the next door tnd puted i nothing Dappened. “Hinm,”*e thought, “must be lacked.” So he pushed the side ofthe adjacent door Nothing. Pele, my fend decided to 0 ‘outside gun. He turned around and pushed against the side ofa door. [Nothing He pushed the adjacent door. Nothing. The door he ha jst ‘entered no longer worked. He turned around once mare and red the Inside doors again. Nothing. Concern the mild panic: He was trapped! Just then, a group of people on the other side of the enrancenay (12 Iny fiend’ ipht) pasted eely through both sete of doora My fend Irried ver to follow tis path ‘How could uch 3 thing happen? A swinging door has two sides. (One contains the supporting pla and the hinge the oes unsup- ported. To open the door, you must pac on the unsupported edge IF {You push onthe hinge wide, nothing happens. In this case, the designer Bimed for beauty, not uty. No dsteactng lines, no vb ils, no "ible hinges. So how can the ordinary user know which side to push om The Pychopathology of Brera Thingslon? While distracted, my fiend had moved toward the (invisible) Sporting pla oe was poshing the door on the hinged side. No twonder nothing happened. Proty door. Elegant Probebly wom ade sgn prize ‘The door story iustrates one ofthe most important pnipes of esign ii The correct prt must be ible, and they must eon- wey the courect measage. With door tht push, the designer must Provide signals that natrally indicate where to push, These need not tlstvoy the aesthetics. Put 2 vertical plate on the side 19 be pase, frothing on the oer. Or make the supporting pillars visible. The Werte pate and supporting plane ae wee! sig, stly nter preted, without any nesd tobe conscious oF ther. Tcl he ust of tural ial fra dg and elaborate on the approach throughout {his book Visolty problems come in many forme. My fied, trapped be tnecen the gle door wlfered from lack of cues that would indicate what part of» door should be operated. Other problems concer the taping between what you want 0 doand what appears tobe posible, "nother topic that wil be expanded upon throughont the book. Con ‘ier one typeof lide projector. Thi projector sa ingle button to Conta whether the slide ray moves forward or bckovard: One button to do two things? What isthe mapping? How can you figure out how to control the les? You can't Nothing evs to give the lightest ‘hint. Here ie what happened to mein one of the many unfamiliar places Te lectured in daring my travels ab professor: The Leite slide projector iltetated in figure 13 ht shown up sr. cal times in my tavele The Bist tine, it led to 2 rather dramatic Incidene A conecientous student nein chtge of ehowing my lide. Tetarted my tak and showed the Bat slide. When Unshed with the ‘rst slide and aed for the nex, the student carefully pushed the contol button and watched in dismay asthe tay backed up, slid out (ofthe projector and plopped off the table onto the Roo, spiling ite entre contents: We hed to daly the lecture cen minutes while 1 ‘trageed to reorganize the slide. twa’ the staden' fat. Tae the ful ofthe logit projector With only ane baton to control the side advance, how could one switch rom Forard to revere? Neither (OF ws could igure out ha to ke the canto! work Alluring the lecture the elides would someting Forman, som lunes bockward. Afterward, we found the lca technician, who ex planed it tous. A beef push of the Button and the side would go coe The Pychpatholey of Brery ThingsForward, 2 long puch and it would reveres (Pity the conscientious tadent who hept pushing it hard—and long to make sure thatthe {itch wae making contact) What an elegant design Why, t managed fo do two functions with only one button! But how was a Bst-time ter ofthe projector to know this? ‘As another example, cookie the beautiful Amphititr Louie. Land inthe Pari Sorbonne, which sled with magnificent paintings of great resin Bench tallectua history. (The muralontheceling hows lots of raked momen Hosting about 3 man who is valintly lying to read a Book The pointing ie right side up only for the le. tirer-it is upstde down forall the people in the audience) The room {sa delight to lecture ina est until you ak for the projection screen to be lowered, “Ah” ay the profesor In charg, who gestures 0 the technician, who rane oat ofthe som, up a short Might of sary ad (ut of sight behind sold wall. The screen comes dovn aod stop. “No, mo," shouts the professor,“ itl bit more.” The sceen comes don ai, this tine too mach, “No, no, no!” the professor jumps up land down and gestures wily. If lovely room, with vel paitings Bu why can’ te person who is trying to lower or ase the sree soe hat be doing? New telephone rytems have proven to be another excllent exam ‘le of incomprehensible design. No matter where [travel Ean count ‘upon Boding «patcaaly bad example When visite Base Books, the publishers of this hook, Enotied 2 ‘ew telephone syst. asked poople how they liked it. The question Unies torent of abu. Te doce? have 2 old function.” ane ‘women complained bitterly the sume compat people at my univer- ‘ty mide about thir ator difren ystem, fn older days, business ‘hones alway had baton labeled “hold.” You could push the button ‘and hang up the phone without sng the cll on your Hine. Then you ‘ould talk oa coeague, or pck up anther telephone calor even pick tp thee t another phone with the same telephone number A light fon the od button indicated when the function war in wae. I wae an “invaluable too for business, Why did the nen phones a Basie Books rin ay univerlty have ahold fenton ities eset? Wel they id, even the very instrament the woman was complaining about But thre weno eany way to discover the Fc, er fo lear ow use it Twas wsitng the University of Michigan and Tasked about the new ‘The Designo Bveyay hg chases Saree mS system there. “Yeoh?” was the reponse, “and it dosn't even have 2 old Function!” Hore we go again. What ix going on? The sneer fe ‘simple is, lok atthe instructions for hol. At the University of ‘Michigan the phone company provided It plate that Rs over the Jeypd and reminds wsers of the Functions and how to ze them. 1 ‘arefully unkooked one of the plates from the telephone and made a ‘photocopy (gare 14} Can you understand how 1 use it? Tea “Theresa “cal hold” operation, but it doesn’ make sense fo me, not forthe application that I just described ‘The telephone hold situation strates a numberof dtferent prob lems. One oF them is simpy poor intrctone, expecially a fire to rete she new Functions t the similarly named Functions that people tleeady know about Second and moreserouy, eth lack of vs of {he operation ofthe eystem, The new telephone, fr all heir added rophistication lack both the hol button andthe aching lightof the old ‘ones, The hol i signified by an arbitrary action dialing an abiteary equence of digit (8, oF *99, or what have you varies from one Phone system fo another). Third, there lene vsble outcome of the Device in the home have devsloped some related problem func ons snd more Functions, controls and more contro, 1 do not think that simple home appliancey—stove, washing machines, audio and television sts—ehoul lok ike Hollywoo' dea of» spaceship con tuo room. They aleady do, macht the consternation ofthe conrumer ‘whe, often so et, has lowe (or cannot understand) the instruction owe The Peychopatholay of Bendy Things‘manual, so—faced with the bewilering ara of conto and die. play-—slmply memorize one o two feed settings t0 approximate ‘hati dese. The whole purpose ofthe design isos. In England isted a home witha fancy new Hain washer-rier combination with super- duper mult symbol conta ll td evry ‘hing you ever wanted to do withthe mashing and deying of clothes, ‘The husband fan engineering peychlopst) sid he refed 0 go neat ‘it.The wife (a physician) sad she had simply memorized one sting and tied to ignore the rest ‘Someone went 10.2 lot of trouble o crete that design I vend the intrcton anual. That machine tok into account everyting about (ody’s wide variety of synthetic and natural fabrice. The designers ‘worked hand: they realy cared. But obviously they had never thought Of trying i out o of watching anyone wae Ihe design Was 50 bad. Ihe controls were 30 unusable why dit the couple purchase it? IF people keep buying poorly designed pro- dats, manafactarers and designers wil think they are doing thersht ‘thing and continue 36 sual ‘The wer needs help, Just the right things have to be visible: to ndcate wht pats operate and how, to incate how the user is 19 Ineract withthe device. Visit indicates the mapping between in tended actions and staal operations. Viiblityindkates crcl die tintions—so that you ean tell alta pepper shakere spat, for exam pl, Ad visu ofthe effets ofthe operation ells you if the lights Ihave tured on propel, ifthe projection screen hat lowered to the comet height, of the rfigerator temperature i adjusted corey [Rie lad of visbiity that makes eo many computer-contaled devices 0 dificult to operate. And iti an exces of Vabilty that makes the ‘etsdden, featare-ladon modern audio St or video caste re ‘order (VCR) 20 intimidating, “The Psychology of Everyday Things “his took about he poychalogy of everday things. POET emp sivs the understanding of every things hinge wth knob and ll, control an ste, ight and meters. The instance we hae jist cxamined demonstrate evra penile, incudingthemporance ‘The Design of veryday Thing of viiiity, appropriate dues, and feedback of one's actions. These rlocptes const a form oF paychology—the paychology of how oople Interact with things. A Bath designer once noted that the ‘nds of materials used inthe constrcton of panenger shelters af- fect the way vandal responded. He suggested that there might be 2 peychology of materiale ABFORDANCES “In one cats, the enforced glass weed to panel sellers (for rairond ssengers) erected by Brish Rail was amashed by vandals a ast as ‘twas renened. Whon the reinforced pac we epced by plywood boarding however, idle Farber damage ocurred although no extra force would have been required to prodace f. Thus Beitish Rait ranage tolerate the dese fr defacement to those who could we, albeit in somewhat limited toms. Nobody hae. ae ye considered whether theresa kind ef peychology of materiel it on the evden ‘here cold well bel “There alresdy exists the stat of peycholgy of materials and of things the study of affordnces of objet, When used inthis sence, the tem afin refer othe perceived and actual propetice ofthe ‘hing, primarily those Fundameata properties that determine just how the thing could possibiy be used (ae figures LS and 1.6). A chair aff "sor" support and therefore, afordesitng A chair ean alg be ced, Gas i for seoing thzough, and for breaking. Wood ie normaly ued for solidity, opacity, suppot or carving. Fat, porous, “smooth surfaces ae foe writing on. So wood i also for wing on -Hience the problem for Beth Ral when the shelters had gl, vans als smashed when they ad plywood, vandals wrote on and carved I The planners were tapped By the affordance of their materials? Afordances provide song us to the operations of things, Plates se for pushing Knobs ae for turing Sot are for inserting things Ito, Balls are fr throwing o bouncing, When afordances are taken ‘vantage ofthe uses knows wh to do jst By Hoking: no picture, label r instruction i required. Complex things may ree explana on, bt simple things should not. When simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design hae failed ‘A perchology of causality i ale at work 2 we ae everyday things ‘The Pychopatolegy of Ereryay Thin‘nate Te hasan burt (ane nade options ene {arin above righ rset Kind fbr ened, oneal The Desig of Besyoy Things Something thet happens right after an action appeat o be caused by that action, Touch a eomputes terminal ust when it als nd you ae sp to believe thet you caused the failure, eventhough the fllre and your action were related only by coincidence, Suck alec euesity the Bais for much superstition. Many ofthe peclar behaviors of people using computer system or complex household appliances rele fom fuch fae coincidences, When an action hae no apparent revut, you ray conc thatthe action wasineetive So yu repeat i In euler days when computer word proceso didnot lay show the esl of their operations, people would sometimes attempt to change theit ‘manuscript, bat the lace of wise effect From each ation would make ‘ham tink that this commands had not been exerted 0 they Would repeal the commands, sometimes over and over, to thes Iter ston ment and reget 1 2 poor desig tht allows elthee Kind uf Fase causality occur TWENTY THOUSAND EVERYDAY THINGS There are am amazing number of everyday thing, pethaps twenty shouuand of them Are there realy tht many? Start by loking about you. There are light Bates, bubs nd sockets; wall later and sree, flock, watches, and watchbunds, There sre writing devies (1 count twelve in font of me, each diferent in function color er ste). There se clothes, with diferent funtions, opening, and lps, Notice the ‘aity of materials and pices. Notice the vail of Fasteners—but tons, zippers snaps laces. Look at al the funiture and food ute: all thor detail, each serving some function for manufatuabiiy, ‘eee or appearance, Consider the work re: paper lip, car, pe of peper, magaines, books, bosemarks Inthe room 'm working in Tounted more than a handed specatiod objets bofore red, Each is simple, but each requires ite own method of operation ach has to be learned, each dee ite own specie tak, and each has t0 be Alesigned separately. Furthermare, many ofthe objects ate made of ‘many pars. A desk stapler fas snteen pars, a household ron Biten, the simple bathisb-shower combination twenty-three. You can't be lieve these spl objets have so many parts? Hee are the leven baie arts toa sink drain lange (round Ue dan), pop-up aopper, basin, Sap dish, overtlow vent, spout, fro, tings, hot-water hand and ‘cold-water handle, We san count even more iF we start tang the faucet, tings, and hit rods apa. ‘he rychopathology of rere Thing“The bok Ha Wha: Via! Ghote Dye! ras ore thom fifteen hundred drawings and pictures and lustates ewenty= three thousand items o parts of tem ving Biederman, a psycho ist who mudi visual perception, ertimater tht there re probably so,aco readily discriminable chests forthe adult Whatever the exact omer, itis cea thatthe dfs of everyday fe are ampi= Sed by the sheer profusion of tems, Suppose that each everyday tins takes only one minute to leary leaning 20,000 of them cecupice, 20000 minuter—355 hours or about 8 frty-hour work weeks Bur thermore, we often encounter new objects unexpectedly, when we ae realy concerned with something eve We are confused and distracted, and what ought to bea sine, effortless, everyday thing interes ‘with the important task ofthe moment. How do people coe? Pat ofthe answer ies in the way the mind \works—in the psychology of human thowght and cognition. Pat ies inthe information available fom the appearance of the objeti—the Alesigner to make the pecation clea, t0 projec good image oF the ‘operation, and ¥ take advantage of other things people ght be ex pected to know. Hee is wher the desgne's knowlede ofthe pe chology of people coupled wth Knowledge of how things work becomes cru ONCHPTUAL MODELS Consider the rather strange bicycle ustated in gure 17. You know it won't wor because you form a ony! mad of the device and mentally simulate its operation You can do the simulation because the ‘Other cies oho things work come From tei sb struct ‘n patel rom aide msi nd apie. Conder pair oF sciroes even f you have never seen oc wed them before, you can oe that the numberof posible actions is limited. The holes ae ceaely| thereto pat something int, andthe ony loll Ung hat wl eae fingers. The holes are alfordances they alow the the Bngers to be Ingerted. The size of he oles provide cma t limi the posite fingers: the big Hole suggests several Singer, the sal ole only one. ‘The mapping between holes and fingore—the set of posible opera tions suggested a constrained by the oles: Moreover, the opea- tio ent eeeltive to finger placement Ifyou use the wrong fingers, 2 The Desig of Ere Things 17 Cordimais Tandem “Convergent Heyce Mode or Fant) ase man “Conran le Copp 1969760 by Jeger Cal the acstors ill work. You can fire out the sito because their ‘operating parts are vxble and the implications clear. The coneeptal smodel cade cbviout, and there i effertive we of afonances tod ‘Asa counterexample, conde the digital watch, one with two to four pooh buttons on the font or de, What are those pus buttons foe? How woul you st the ine? There sno wy to ell—no evident realonship between the operating controls andthe furctions, no con- Straits, no apparent mappings. With the scissor, moving the handle Inakesthe blades move. The watch ane he Let lide projector provide no wire relationship Between the buttons and the possible stone, no ditcemible relationship betwen the actions andthe end reel. Principles of Design, for Understandability and Usability ‘We have now encountered the fundamental principles of designing for people (1) provide a god conceptual model and (2} make things PROVIDE A GOOD CONCEPTUAL MODEL AA gd conceptual model allows us to prod the ffet of our tons Without = good model we operate by rote blinly, we do operations 2 we were tale todo them; we can’t flly appreciate why, what eects to expect or what 2 do if things go wrong As long as things work roped, te con manage: When things po rons, however or when, one The Paypal of Brandy Thingtecome upon a novel situation, then we need a deeperundersanding, 2 good med or everyday things, conceptual models need aot be very complex ‘After al, soso, pens, and light switches are prety simple device. ‘There is no need fo understand the underlying physics or chery of ‘ach devie we oven, simpy the relationship between the contrals and ‘the outcomes. When the model presented ts is inadequate oF wrong (ce, wort nanesstent) wecan have difcaltics Let me ally about sy refrigerator, [My house hasan oninary, to. compartment reigerator—nothing vay Faney about i The problem ie that I ean’ set the temperate propery. Thor ar only two things to dads the temperate othe freezer compartment and adjast the temperature of the fresh food ‘compartment. And there are two controls, ene ibeed "ese," the ‘ther “fos food.” What's the problem? You ty it Figure £8 shows the introcton plate fom inside the ‘efigeratr. Now, suppose the Fete too cold he Fresh ood section {ust right. You want to make the feser warmer, epi the fresh food ‘onsiane Goon, red the Instruction, igure them ot {us My Retiguaor Two computer oda fisne—and an {ithe nh fou). Thelin sow he conte aon ‘Yount Super th ess oa ahs fod ssa at gh Ho ‘el yusce the conc 0 art met ear nares Fat tesa (ho Norman #586) 4 The Design of Broyday Things 19 Two Modes for My Retieor The mad (abv) is vided byte spate ie oh agra el em hc eta nd Isuruciony now conc coecpsl made Tw polo tha Ines tlie te emesis ete tw cond ae inthe fear snd ond canparinntve oe = }-— aaa om The Paychopatology of Berdy Things 25(Oh, perhaps better war you. The two controls ae not indepen dent. The fooar contol aBoct the Fh food temperature, snd the “feo food control affect the Freezer And don forge Wat bent) ‘four hours to check on whether you made the right adjustment, if you ‘an remember what you did. CContol ofthe refrigerator is made dificalt because the manufac turer provides 2 false conceptual model. There are to compartments and two controls. The setup cenly and unambiguously provides 2 imple model for the use: ech controls responsibe for the temper tare ofthe compartment tht care it name. Wrong. In fact, there only one thermostat and only one coling medhanisen. One conte jst the thermostat setting, the other the redave proportion of cold air sent to each ofthe two compartments of the refrigerator. This i “hy the two contol interact. With the conceptsl model provided by ‘he manafacturer adjusting the temperatures is almest impossible ae nays franrating, Given the corect model, fe would be mach essor (Gear x9) ‘Why di the manafacturer prosent the wrong concept modal 30 Conceptual Models The dos ma he eins concptal ode The ‘Sesh metal ml vey theron sth tem The "inne tre py rat tat eon bl ling ‘ent tacos td is) Te einer exe the ws ose 19 Be {Seta to th sig ml Bet th ese da’ tk ey Ah the ‘eral commana pice thug the teenie the syn ‘Seve not make dg ofl cer and const then teal nd ‘Sp th one etl moe Fem Norman 988) Noe 36 Tho Design ofBoryday Things Persp the designer thought the correct model wa oo comple, that the model they were giving wae esier to undertand. But with the soni conceptuol model, eis mpostble tose the conta. And even though Tam convinced T now know the corest model I el cannot accurately aust the temperatures because the reftgerator design ke itmporsble forme to cecover which cones forthe therm- iat, which contol is forthe ratve proportion of cold sr and in ‘which comparement the thermoutat i loste. The Ick of immedi feedback for the ations docs not help wih a delay of twenty-four ous, who can remember what was Wed? "The topic of conceptual model wil reappear in the book. They ae part of an important concept in design: mnt mall Uhe models people have of themselves, other, the environment, and the things with which they interact Pople form mental mods through experience, Utsining, and instracton, The mental model of 3 device i Formed Iangy by interpreting ite perceive acon adit vee stractre call the wie part of the device the to nage (Bute 1.10) When the sytem image ie lncoherent or inappropriate, as Inte case ofthe refigerator, then she usr cannot easly use the device. If itis incem- plete of contradictory there wil be trouble, MAKE THINGS vistBLE ‘The problems causd by inadequate attention to visibility areal neatly demonstrated with one simple eplance he moder telephone otand atthe backboard in my ofc, aking witha stdent when ny telephone rings Once, trie itrings. paws, trying to complete my sentence before answering. The ringing stops. “im soy,” says the student “Not your fal," I say. “But ie mo problem, the ell now Iranafers tomy sertey's phone. Shell answer.” As we litem we dhoar her phone start 10 zing. Once, twice Took at my watch. Se ‘lock: it's late, the ofc staff has let fr the day. Lush out of my lice fo my secretary’ phone, but ae ge thee ietope ringing. “Ah” T think “Fs being transferred to another phone.” Sure enough the ‘phone inthe adjacent ofce now slats iging Tush vo tha ofc, but {tis locke. Back to my ofc to get the key, out tthe locked door, Fumble with the lock, ito te ofc, and tothe now quit phone 1 hear 2 telephone down the hall arto ring. Could that sill be my call ene The Prychputoloy of Brady ThinsImaking its way mnyeteriouely, with 2 predetermined arching path, ‘through the phones ofthe builtng? Orit just another telephone al ‘oinidentaly avin thie tine? Infact, 1 could have reeved the cll rom my ofc, had 1 acted lulckly enough. The manual states: "Within your pre-programmed lk-up group, dial 14 to connect to incoming eal. terse, to an ‘ser any ringing extension, dil ringing extension suber, listen For busy tone, Dia 8 to connect to incoming call” Huh? What do tore Instructions mean? What is « “pre-programmed pick-up grou,” and winy de Teven want 10 know? What isthe extension numberof the Finging phone? Can T remember all thwe instructions when Tnesd ‘hem? No “Telephone chao the new gaze inthe moder ofc, a the Suto matic features of telephones go aw1y—featues designed without proper thought, and certainly without esting them with their intended ‘user. There are several other games t00. One gate is announced by the ples, "How do Tanewer thie all?"The question is peopery whined in front ofa ringing, flashing telephone, reciver in hand, Then there isthe paradoxical game entitled “This telephone doesn ave sold fanction” The acostion i directed at teephone that actually deo ‘havea old function, And, nally, there e“What do you mean {called you, you called met” ‘Many of the modern telephone systems have new festare that automatically hee trying to dial 3 mamber For you. Tie fste e- Sides under names such as automstic redaling or autre callback Tam supposed to use this Feature whenever Ical someone who dees answer or whose line Busy. When the person next hangs up the ‘Phone. my phone will dil again. Several automatic callbacks cn be Sctve ata time. Hors how it works. I place a phone cal. Ther’ m0 “answer 6 activate the automate callback feature. Several hours ater In telephone rings. pick up and say “Helle” only to her rnging Sound and then someone ele saying “Hel.” “Hele,” I answer, “who te this?” Wi is this?” Thea in reply, “you called me.” Na" Tay, “you called me, my phone jst rang” Slowly Tralee hat perhaps this ie my delayed cal. Now, let eo, who wos eying t cal several hours ago? Did Ihave several cillbacke in place? Why was T making the cll? 18 The Design of Evepday Things Fr ‘The modern telephone didnot happen by acient it wa carefully