On Tue, Apr 4, 2017 at 1:12 AM, Levy, P.D. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I am trying to address the notion of ‘everyday’ and questioning the way it
is or could be tackled by design.
I long ago gave given up trying to define the "everyday" terms of any
discipline. (Long ago, I gave up trying to define "psychology." Then I
stopped defining "Cognitive Science." And we all know the difficulty of
designing "Design."
(No academic field has a well-accepted definition. Consider “Computer
Science” or “history,” ”social science” or “engineering.” All academic
fields are probably best defined by what people on those fields actually
do, which means that every department in the world is different and,
thereby, has a different oionion of what activities belong within it and
what do not.
To me, everyday is mostly characterized by what it is not.
I did not want to write about industrial products, or things for business,
science, or industry. I wanted to write about things that impacted the life
of people in all aspects of life, but especially in their homes and
non-business lives, al;though obviously the same issues arise in all
aspects of life.
Hencve, I wanted to talk about doors and light switches, about stairways
and faucets (taps). What term could i sue? I settled upon Everyday.
I was also heavily influenced by the cuteness of the title "Psychology of
Everyday Things": POET.
So everyday -- and perhaps design -- seems more easily characterized by
what it is not rather than by what it is.
Don
Don Norman
Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
[log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/ www.jnd.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|