Don Norman: The three ways that good design makes you happy

[BenHume55rr]

This guy is more interested in the superficial beauty of design then the internal beauty of design, which I believe to be quite foolish

[BenHume55rr]

I honestly think this guy has a very narrow concept of beauty. The majority of what he says just reflects that he has a lot of money and is trying to buy fun and happiness... a gold plated juicer he doesn't even use... come on people.

[25soraya02]

I'm a bit confused, in one of his articles he discusses the importance of good conceptual models referring to affordances, constraints and mappings, but in his other articles does he also mention aesthetics or does he simple focus on practicality?

[essellar]

@25soraya02 That's kind of the point he's making here -- that what he's said in the past needed to be said, but that there is also room for aesthetics that go beyond the merely practical. Things that serve a particular function need to be first and foremost functional and usable, but they can also be beautiful while sacrificing nothing. And there is room in the world as well for things whose only function is beauty.

[Stephenson24]

I love Normans books :) 

[eugeo1234]

0:56 is "produced by Alessi", not "produced by a messy" (about the juicer)

[AirsoftCritics]

Who else watched this more than once?

[carsanookdotcom]

Chris Bangle was in Bangkok a years ago when he was working with BMW.

Same routine but different objects. Crack a few jokes and the audience is happy.

They'll applaud. Trust me.

Dr John Carsanook

Kingdom of Thailand

[mxferro]

In response to the:

thejoeflash

4 months ago Let it be understood that expensive does NOT always mean wasteful, yet it depends upon (in this case) the product you are using. To have a vehicle (such as a Honda Accord) that can do the same duties (getting you from point A to B safely, quietly,efficiently) already demonstrates that to command a higher price with "frills" such as a EXPENSIVE mercedes Benz, shows a disregard for practicality and for social responsiblity & insensitivity

[tato2470]

que alguien le ponga subtitulos!!

[MyUnv]

Shows greatly how design is important. Great talk.

[himsanjun]

I quoted and summarized some good parts 3:55 "Pleasant thing work better" 4:45 "Fear makes you focus" 5:55 "when you are anxious, you get stuck, if you are happy you get more idea flow into your brain" 8:15 "Behavior design is all about feel of your control. Most are done unconscious"

[thejoeflash]

...

So don't talk to me about expensive items taking food out of the mouths of babes. It's that kind of thinking that little people use to make themselves feel better by chastising those who simply want to enjoy life, because, deep down, they don't feel they deserve it, so why should anyone else?

[thejoeflash]

...So, you want a target, go bark at the warlords who take all the best parts of that foreign aid, and leave their countrymen with almost nothing. You want to make sure that your conscience is assuaged, go to Africa yourself and donate of something even more precious: time.

Me, I work hard to buy the few luxury items I can afford. And I donate some of what little disposable income I have to local charities, where I know it will make a difference.

...

[thejoeflash]

...

Millions of dollars a year are spend in foreign aid; I myself donate to a few charities. But I am under no illusion that buying an expensive, pleasant item is in any way taking away from those suffering. Because it's not. Because, even if I donated all the money I spent on XYZ, how much of it actually gets to that African village? Most of it goes to the middlemen.

...

[thejoeflash]

I am so tired of the Aristotelian argument that just because you buy something that is expensive, and pleasant, that a) you're wasteful, and b) somehow children in another part of the world are suffering because of it, as if all actions in the world were a zero-sum game. By buying into that fear of lack, you keep yourself in suffering. Fear is how the masses get manipulated to give up their freedoms in the name of a supposed 'greater good'.

...

[Flipflopab]

He sounds kinda like Woody Allen

[ellocotheinsane]

Another one misses the point ... you can work on a computer that is ugly and you can work on one that has a beautiful aesthetically pleasant design and the latter will make you feel better while working (which btw is half of Apple's success). Same goes for mp3 players, phones, watches, cars etc. ... the speakers point is that good design can help everyday things make you feel better at doing everyday activities without actually changing the purpose of the tool at hand (the knife reference) ...

[kasanemo]

No you're missing the point. The point is that everyone in the world cannot afford to enjoy beautifully aesthetic things, and the people that waste resources on meaningless trinkets sap the poor all in the name of comfort. For example: the gasoline and resources required to make the goddamn gold plated juicer could have been used to feed an entire district in a 3rd world country for weeks; possibly months; maybe years.

[tinosnit]

It's not a waste. We don't have any responsibility or obligation to feed these 3rd world countries. It's not sapping the poor either, it's just not helping them.

[ellocotheinsane]

You are using a logical fallacy. The way you describe things is as if the gold plated juicer is free and whoever is using it has wasted the resources that could have been used elsewhere for free. Things in this world don't come for free and if you want a gold plated juicer you have to be either born rich or work your ass off to aquire one. However how the tax you pay on the juicer is spent is more of something your point could come in question. Perhaps not spend trillions on weapons?

[BenHume55rr]

@kasanemo I agree, I think his fascination with material bobbles is just plain pathetic. He reminds me of my deeply unhappy father who only keeps the appearance of happiness afloat by buying whatever "pretty" (and usually ridiculously expensive) item he fancies. No matter how useless and completely unnecessary the item is. Honestly his explanation is lacking a lot.

[zhulingyao]

Yah...exactly...design does mean somethings with my emotions and then it does lead to the consequence at the end.

[kasanemo]

I've got to eat you old, bourgeois bastard . You can take your "I do everything for fun" and shove it up your ass. Hey, next time you decide to buy a gold plated juicer you will never use why don't you give me the money so I can pay my fucking rent.

ASS

[valalupe1]

lol I don't think its his problem you can't pay your own fucking rent. So asking him for money just cause he has the money to buy a gold plated juicer doesn't mean he has to give you the money to support your pathetic life.

ASS

[fionamonne]

a combination of educated hard work, dedication and no doubt a relative amount of luck has enabled him to be able to afford a gold plated juicer.....he is able to buy such items because he WORKED for them...im sure you have worked for the things you wanted in life, even a beer on a Sat nite? Does buying that beer on a Sat night make you an ASS??? Plenty of people out there a lot worse off than you would say it does & that you should give ur beer money to them?..would U find that fair? I say NOT!

[thetylerhayes]

@fionamonne Just because something is the way it is does not mean that's the way it should be.

This is just my opinion, but what you're talking about is just a matter of scale. Maybe we should feel bad about buying a beer when thousands of children are starving to death every day. What's your take on that?

[BenHume55rr]

@fionamonne He may have worked really hard to buy a gold plated juicer, good for him, but in all reality his fascination with material things make him appear a fairly sad and boring individual (to me)

[Kaburorne]

What a great opening line- and a purposefully unfitting one!

[smsmsmr]

What a wanker!

[ImOnTheTube]

He is only referring to temporary impulse emotion though. Sure Minis are fun, but after how many times driving it? The emotion that comes from a $13000 watch is mostly ego based and you feel happy because not everyone has a 13k watch - but will it matter the next day? Its important to have good and functional design. But sometimes there is a deeper "divine resonance" reflected in something and imo that is what real design is all about.

[supajive]

im sick of this person and his materialistic way of life. he would never appreciate an empty house full of life.

[kaisergrendel]

Hahaha, I like the look of the casio digital watch better.

[GooseberryFiddich]

A fine talk. His style may not be to everyone's taste but he is himself and that makes him so pleasurable to listen to. So enthusiastic about his subject that i carried on lstening to him and started looking at more of his talks. I like you Don Norman.

[sonic911]

@GooseberryFiddich haha i know its so weird that hes "pleasurable" to listen to

[sonic911]

i absolutely love intellectual talks and stumbles like this because it explains the world around you in a different light

[sonic911]

if more people followed this guys way of life the world would be a much better place

[bigboui80]

@GooseberryFiddich - I would definitely have to agree. I started watching TEDtalks videos in my Physics class and now I got hooked. Don Norman is very interesting to listen to. His audience-centered approach in speaking makes for an interesting symposium. I also ended up watching quite a few of his other videos.

[Rybot9000]

Thats it in a nutshell. People tend to prefer aesthetics and feel-goodness to practicality and reality.

[lordhaku]

But what we REALLY like is when the two of them are present to similar levels in the same product.

[chawk111]

Dose the tea pot automatically change orientation because of the weight of the contents full vs empty? Or do the the customers just set it on its side as part of some convention explained to them by the waiter? If the former, it's kind of cool I guess. Otherwise, it's just a tea pot isn't it?

[peterbriers]

Hehe, I think you missed his point.

[achilleask]

Yes it is JUST a teapot but that's the point. It's simple stuff that look nice and are useable. It's about how good design can be practical and not only that but pretty things make you enjoy the time you spend using them.

The teapot is designed differently from the conventional ones and it's smart (and pretty) because of the way it separates the water from the tealeaves.

[BenHume55rr]

@achilleask Well... Sure.. the teapot is one example.. but this guy is really just pointing out a cool teapot.. why doesn't he design something practical and useful instead of showing us stuff we will see on some blog tomorrow

[kaisergrendel]

In Chinese restaurants you can leave the lid ajar to signal that it needs refilling. All that teapot does in addition is preserve the quality of the tea by preventing it from soaking the leaves until it becomes bitter. An evolution of a convention.

[hamdaw]

he is a grifter selling your bullshit.

[56jmoney]

i liked the part where he was talking about the link between happiness and creativity - I hadn't thought of that. I've been interested in both subjects for quite some time and hadn't noticed the connection.

[Casmige]

Where there is smoke..

SmokelessFireAngel is SPOT ON!

As is:-VeryAwesomeVids Awesome Comment

PanzerN9Ne :- Succinctly...Said.

I was left with encouragement that even Old can become *Renewed*.

Top Shelf Schttuuuphfff!!

[itscrunk22]

this guy hit the bong one time, and it changed his life

[funkalunatic]

All these horrible products, like so many empty, useless smiles, are to design as pornography is to art, or candy is to cuisine. After all this "fun" I feel like I need a refractory period. Mere stimulus isn't the same as nourishment.

[eggnoggerino]

I guess you've never used a Global knife then, right?

And I think your opinion is like those products ... only uglier ...

[someman7]

Actually, I think that this guy just has a bad taste in design.

I konw he's a big shot or something, but this stuff is just plain ugly. Nature is the rolemodel for beauty. You can hardly go wrong there. Something you once percieved as beautiful in nature, by time, you can only start percieving as neutral, but rarely as ugly.

[IdleBystander1]

In my opinion candy can be cuisine and pornography is far more utilitarian than art.

[funkalunatic]

Sometimes pornography is art, and candy is cuisine, but not usually in my experience.

[SmokelessFireAngel]

Quite interesting ! That would be a nice idea to train our minds and look at the positive aspect that all things hide.... might tell a different story in our lives !

[VeryAwesomeVids]

one of the best talks i have ever heard on TED

[bennyman5]

that chair at the end was.......trippy

[some1honest]

hehehe... this guy is funny

[gledalka]

nice one;)

[maxxb24]

That was a really good one. Very applicable.

[Mrmoc7]

I liked the part about fear and why we need to set deadlines to get things done. It's nice to know that anxiety has some positive effects.

[lordhaku]

True, but that's anxiety coupled with dynamism and action - i.e. the energy to drive yourself from the anxious state into confronting the task at hand, handling it and then reaping the pride of a job well done. The problem is when we are anxious, but do nothing to escape that anxiety.

[Namari12]

That chair that's trying to get its ball back is the coolest thing I've ever seen XD

[redgiemental]

Very very interesting.

It reminds me slightly of how I hear designers from Apple talk about their products vaguely.

[Drummer000]

Great talk!! Very interesting. =)

[KDIZ930]

that was so great!

[ouazaki]

he is funny

[PanzerN9Ne]

best.... lecture.... ever....

[afthefragile]

Nice video. This guy speaks what i think of everyday. Why can't everything be designed excitingly. Why does everything have to be so bland and boring...

[joshlawler7]

I liked that. I've never heard of Don Norman, i'll have to do some research.

[ChristoWhat]

I liked it..

He give you a much different way of lookin at things lol..

[zombiesmasher]

Loved it!

[jo232409]

Yeah, this was awesome! Predates the iphone!

[HiAdrian]

This guy is not my cup of tea. The talk seemed too contrived, didn't feel it at all.

[snoopdog68]

I was always told to design things a woman would want. Its bound to sell better.

[ApollyonProductions]

lol @ RantKid; well said..

Great TED video again!

[RantKid]

1trip you're gay. sorry you're too stupid to understand any of this.

this was interesting.

[jkand]

Fascinating

[thirteenthcreature]

Yup...Don Norman

[irish202]

ted talks in the pants, always great

[seanarrative]

cool