The Future of Design According to Don Norman

Don Norman, per his introduction in this video, is a “rockstar” in human-computer interaction. His background and experience in the field spans many years. The author of a cacophony of books, he is intimately familiar with many theories and studies in the field.

Design in the future, according to Norman, will rely on automation to an extent. It will also need to be able to receive input from its users, however. Balance will be critical in this situation. As an example, Norman discussed a particular case where a plane’s autopilot feature failed to alert the pilots of an impending problem. While the autopilot did its job to the best of its ability, there were design shortcomings in the system. And the resulting issue was a byproduct of this.

When it comes to future design, there isn’t one failsafe solution. Instead, the process is one that will be constantly evolving through a series of successes and failures.