raflievansyah.studio

Hi readers! It has been a while since my last post. Staying consistent has been hard lately because my schedule was really full. Between June and July, I was busy registering for my master’s degree. Now in August, I am preparing to move closer to campus. I will share more details about my journey in this new city later, but today I want to talk about something simpler: a book.

Reading has been a nice way to relax compared to making prototypes and working on technical things. With social media and quick videos, information is easy to get but very easy to forget. To change that, I decided to start reading more, beginning with a famous book: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

A lot of people recommend this book for learning design basics. Since I did not have a strong background in design concepts, I was excited to read it. The first two chapters were completely eye-opening. Don Norman changed how I look at things. I used to think good design was mostly about looking pretty, using expensive materials, and creating clever joint details. But Norman says that good design works so smoothly in our lives that we do not even notice we are using it.

He uses simple examples like refrigerators, radios, and doors. This made me look at my own room, especially my door handle. In Indonesia, standard lever handles are everywhere. At first look, you cannot tell if you should push or pull just by looking at the handle itself. You have to look at the frame or the hinges to be sure.

This is where Norman explains two important concepts: knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head. Knowledge in the world means clues built directly into the object, like a push plate or a sign. Knowledge in the head means information we already store in our memory through culture and habit. We use that knowledge in our head every day when opening doors in Indonesia. Our doors almost always open inward. This practice comes from a cultural habit of hospitality, where opening a door inward signals welcoming a guest into your home. Because we carry this knowledge in our head, we do not get confused when we see a standard handle. We turn the handle and push to go in, or turn and pull to go out. Even if the handle does not give visual clues on its own, our shared cultural habit makes it work easily.

This makes me wonder about design as a whole. Does a design have to be clear to everyone in the world to be good, or is it enough if it works well within a local culture? I am still reading the book and I will share more thoughts soon. If you have read this book or have an opinion on what makes a design good, please leave a comment below!

Kind regards,

Rafli