Honorable Mention, Business, Management & Accounting category, 1998 Professional/Scholarly Publishing Annual Awards Competition presented by the Association of American Publishers, Inc.


Technologies have a life cycle, says Donald A. Norman, and they must change as they pass from youth to maturity. Alas, the computer industry thinks it is still in its rebellious teenage years, exalting in technical complexity. Customers want change. They are ready for products that offer convenience, ease of use, and pleasure. The technology should be invisible, hidden from sight.

In this book Norman shows why the computer is so difficult to use and why this complexity is fundamental to its nature. The only answer is to develop information appliances that fit people's needs and lives. To do this, companies have to change the way they develop products. They need to start with an understanding of people: user needs first, technology last--the opposite of how things are done now.