Jacob and Jeff read Don Norman's Design of Everyday Things for the second episode of their book club series. The good news: the book is genuinely insightful about why some products work and others don't. The bad news: it's also kind of boring.
But they made it through, and in this episode they talk about what they learned. They discuss concepts like affordances and signifiers, the language of how objects communicate what they do. They compare streaming service interfaces, debate the merits of old versus new technology, and talk through Jacob's experiences designing forms that actually work. There are tangents about rental cars, vintage cameras, and why some design decisions from decades ago are still with us today.
The conversation ranges from websites to everyday objects, touching on legacy constraints, cultural differences in design, and why sometimes simpler is genuinely better. By the end, you might start noticing design decisions everywhere… for better or worse.
Sites Discussed:
Rabbit Tech
To ask questions, or submit topics you'd like us to cover in the future, visit us at humanfriend.digital/pod/
