Understanding modes of failure from "summary" of Summary of Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things by Milkyway Media by Milkyway Media
This topic focuses on the various ways products and services can fail, and how to avoid these potential issues. It examines how to design products and services to be more user-friendly and reliable, eliminating user errors and ensuring customer satisfaction.- It is necessary to comprehend failure points built into the fundamental architecture of the product and its interface. Special considerations must be given so as not to obstruct the user's intention or goal when completing their task.
- We often don't consider failures when developing a product but they can be an invaluable resource to help us understand how our designs can be improved. Understanding the different modes of failure and those that result in errors are integral for construction successful products.
- When anticipating failure modes more easily, designers must analyse the most common methods used by people interacting with the object before working on solutions. Numerous scenarios can be imagined to foresee which breakdowns could occur in the product use process.
- Attention should also be paid to feedback aspects in order to train users about correct interactions. Good product designs communicate clearly to the person using them what will happen if a specific mode of failure or error is made.
- The majority of errors have little relationship to the actual design of an item - people err because of incorrect usage of the product rather than any fault of the designers themselves. In these circumstances, knowledge structures play a key role since they explain how to use a designed item correctly.
- Designers should pay attention to three main types of failures: slips, mistakes and violations. Slips occur when we forget to follow a step in the process; mistakes happen when the action taken was inappropriate or wrong; while violations are deliberate disregard of procedures or known restrictions.
- Tracking users' reactions to errors and collecting data associated with these reactions can help designers improve on existing models as well as inform future models. This practice contributes to understanding why certain failures take place and can give very valuable insights to iterate upon.
