Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 2

I found that I related to a lot that Norman stated in chapter 2 of The Design of Everyday Things and I thought that overall his thoughts and points were very well stated. One thing that really resonated with me was when he pointed out that when a task appears simple, people blame themselves. I have definitely done that a number of times and have been too embarrassed to say anything about it. Occasionally, after the fact, I’d find out that other people suffered from the same problem. It’s nice to have someone acknowledge that the fact that so many people having problems with it indicates a problem in the design and not in the users’ incompetence. Another part of the chapter that I found interesting is when he Norman mentions “mathematics phobia.” It’s something that I’m definitely familiar with and I really liked how he explained the way this “phobia” is developed.  It’s not that the concepts are particularly difficult but because each new lesson builds on the previous it is hard to catch up if you fall behind once.