Don Norman

For the ice hockey coach, see Don Norman (ice hockey). For the American runner, see Don Norman (runner).

Don Norman
Norman in 2005
Born
Donald Arthur Norman

(1935-12-25) December 25, 1935 (age 88)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMIT
University of Pennsylvania
Known forThe Design of Everyday Things
Cognitive ergonomics
User-centered design
Scientific career
FieldsCognitive science
Usability engineering
InstitutionsNorthwestern University
University of California, San Diego
Nielsen Norman Group
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Thesis Sensory Thresholds And Response Biases In Detection Experiments, A Theoretical And Experimental Analysis  (1962)
Doctoral advisorR. Duncan Luce
Doctoral students
Websitejnd.org[1]

Donald Arthur Norman (born December 25, 1935)[2][3] is an American researcher, professor, and author. Norman is the director of The Design Lab at University of California, San Diego.[4] He is best known for his books on design, especially The Design of Everyday Things. He is widely regarded for his expertise in the fields of design, usability engineering, and cognitive science,[4] and has shaped the development of the field of cognitive systems engineering.[5] He is a co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, along with Jakob Nielsen. He is also an IDEO fellow and a member of the Board of Trustees of IIT Institute of Design in Chicago. He also holds the title of Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. Norman is an active Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), where he spends two months a year teaching.[when?]

Much of Norman's work involves the advocacy of user-centered design.[6] His books all have the underlying purpose of furthering the field of design, from doors to computers. Norman has taken a controversial stance in saying that the design research community has had little impact in the innovation of products, and that while academics can help in refining existing products, it is technologists that accomplish the breakthroughs.[7] To this end, Norman named his website with the initialism JND (just-noticeable difference) to signify his endeavors to make a difference.[1]

  1. ^ a b "What does jnd.org mean?". Just-Noticeable Difference. Archived from the original on June 16, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  2. ^ Royal-Lawson, James; Axbom, Per (August 24, 2016). "Design Doing with Don Norman". Medium. UX Podcast. Retrieved November 14, 2019. Per: Born in 1935. James: Yeah, he actually turned 80 around about the same time as we had a Twitter conversation about this interview. Per: Exactly. It was December 25.
  3. ^ "ISNI 0000000122839155 - Donald A. Norman ( 1935- )". International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI). Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Robbins, Gary (2014). "Don Norman has designs on your life". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  5. ^ Klein, G.; Wiggins, S.; Deal, S. (March 2008). "Cognitive Systems Engineering: The Hype and the Hope". Computer. 41 (3): 95–97. doi:10.1109/MC.2008.81. ISSN 0018-9162. S2CID 38587194.
  6. ^ Zachry, Mark (October 2005). "An Interview with Donald Norman". Technical Communication Quarterly. 14 (4): 469. doi:10.1207/s15427625tcq1404_5. S2CID 142989547.
  7. ^ Norman, Donald (December 5, 2009). "Technology First, Needs Last". Retrieved January 26, 2010.