User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the Way We Live, Work Play
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- Create Date：2021-05-26 11:55:47
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Cliff Kuang
- ISBN：0753556650
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Summary
'A tour de force， an engrossing fusion of scholarly research， professional experience and revelations from intrepid firsthand reporting' -- New York Times
USER FRIENDLY is a must-read for anyone who loves well-designed products—and for the innovators aspiring to make them。
It seems like magic when some new gadget seems to know what we want before we know ourselves。 But why does some design feel intrinsically good， and why do some designs last forever， while others disappear？ User Friendly guides readers through the hidden rules governing how design shapes our behaviour， told through fascinating stories such as what the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island reveals about the logic of the smartphone; how the pressures of the Great Depression and World War II created our faith in social progress through better product design; and how a failed vision for Disney World yielded a new paradigm for designed experience。
USER FRIENDLY is a must-read for anyone who loves well-designed products—and for the innovators aspiring to make them。
It seems like magic when some new gadget seems to know what we want before we know ourselves。 But why does some design feel intrinsically good， and why do some designs last forever， while others disappear？ User Friendly guides readers through the hidden rules governing how design shapes our behaviour， told through fascinating stories such as what the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island reveals about the logic of the smartphone; how the pressures of the Great Depression and World War II created our faith in social progress through better product design; and how a failed vision for Disney World yielded a new paradigm for designed experience。
Reviews
lisa
，
Great investigation and lots of interesting stories， but the whole thing felt disconnected to read it as a book。 It's a good collection of user friendly stories， from the perspective of two US-based designers。 Great investigation and lots of interesting stories， but the whole thing felt disconnected to read it as a book。 It's a good collection of user friendly stories， from the perspective of two US-based designers。 。。。more
Carla Pereira
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Overall it’s a nice book， but a lot of it is common sense。 It’s not very linear too， with sub divisions it was more user friendly and a lot of thoughts there are lost。 The only part that adds value in terms of the title of the book itself is the appendix part。
Bruin Mccon
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“No one remembers that before the steering wheel in a car， there were tillers， and that tillers made for a natural comparison when no one drove cars and far more people had piloted a boat。 The metaphor disappeared once driving cars became common。”User Friendly is a non-fiction book about design。 It’s full of random facts that are endlessly fascinating like the one above about how people need metaphors to understand how to use new things。“In one experiment， people who held a warm coffee cup were “No one remembers that before the steering wheel in a car， there were tillers， and that tillers made for a natural comparison when no one drove cars and far more people had piloted a boat。 The metaphor disappeared once driving cars became common。”User Friendly is a non-fiction book about design。 It’s full of random facts that are endlessly fascinating like the one above about how people need metaphors to understand how to use new things。“In one experiment， people who held a warm coffee cup were more likely to judge another person as trustworthy。 Thus ‘warming up’ to someone didn’t seem to be just an abstract metaphor。”The book is a bit hard to get into and then gets really good toward the end， like reading-a-great-fiction-novel good。 I see I started reading it while I had COVID in 2020 and took more than a year to finish。 I checked it out of the library several times。Then there’s this great truth of user-centered design， people will tell you what they want and not what they need。 Thus the book goes through many examples of the unrealistic expectations we put on objects， like wanting technology to be magic and anticipate all our needs without us coughing them up at the onset。 And when it comes down to it， there is a gap between want and need and it holds mankind back because technology isn’t really being used as a tool。 True we can buy a bunch of stuff on our phone but it is giving everyone anxiety and FOMO。There’s an entire chapter on a man becoming disabled and then quickly radicalized。 The authors come back to it again and again and even make the cringeworthy pronouncement that， “everyone is a bit disabled，” which eff you， no。 Oh and that what most people call disability is a design problem。 I mean are they aware that interviewing one disabled person isn’t the same as being disabled and that what they wrote was super offensive！？ While it is interesting theoretically that many great inventions that able-bodied people use have origins in solving a problem for a disabled person， it’s really not cool to suggest that disability can be “fixed” with new products。 Then there was the stupid cruise douche who believes you deal with complexity by putting people in a room together and having them work it out。 My first thought was that he probably has coworkers who do a ton of emotional labor that’s invisible to him to get shit to work。 My second was that the first thing they teach you in bullying prevention is not to force bullying victims to “work things out” with their bullies。 Final random fact: younger people who grew up with social media don’t get FOMO when they scroll through social media， it’s only those of us old enough to remember berfore-times when we had freedom to live our lives not tethered to the office and read physical books。 。。。more
Natarajan Mahalingam
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User Friendly: How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live， work， and play is a intricately woven history of the world of user friendly design with the established principles， concepts， theories， and practice of industrial/customer/empathy design subject。 The author narrates in a fluidic， easy-to-grasp manner， the historic events that helped shape the subject of user friendly design。 As a reader， my greatest takeaway was - all along， in reading other books on the topic， I got to User Friendly: How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live， work， and play is a intricately woven history of the world of user friendly design with the established principles， concepts， theories， and practice of industrial/customer/empathy design subject。 The author narrates in a fluidic， easy-to-grasp manner， the historic events that helped shape the subject of user friendly design。 As a reader， my greatest takeaway was - all along， in reading other books on the topic， I got to understand the concept & application， whereas from this book， I got to understand why a certain paradigm appeared on the design thinking horizon and how it evolved and adapted into the modern theory that we have available todayIf you're someone who works with customers in your line of work directly， this book is a treasure trove of information on how you can， not only， design keeping the user in mind， but more importantly， design keeping accountability of the consequence of your designs in your ethos！ 。。。more
Guilherme Kaiser
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Self driving cars， thermostats， social media， world war airplanes， hiv self-testing kits and nuclear power plants dashboards。 This book tells a story about why we design the way we design today。 Great read。
Jessica Lazar
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User Friendly goes over the history of making things， be it physical objects or machines， more user friendly。 In doing so， this book is split into 10 chapters with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of user experience。 The majority of these chapters would take us through a specific part of history that first brought rise to certain concepts。Personally， after a certain amount of time spent on each concept and its history， it would grow repetitious or I would find myself not caring。 The c User Friendly goes over the history of making things， be it physical objects or machines， more user friendly。 In doing so， this book is split into 10 chapters with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of user experience。 The majority of these chapters would take us through a specific part of history that first brought rise to certain concepts。Personally， after a certain amount of time spent on each concept and its history， it would grow repetitious or I would find myself not caring。 The concepts themselves were really interesting， and I enjoyed the chapter on Personalization the most， but I feel like the book would have benefited more had there been multiple stories within each chapter to drive the point home。 Although， the decision to limit the scope to one "story" per chapter may just emphasize how rare and important these stories were in how we design technology and its evolution to what it is now。All in all， while I didn't get the most out of this compared to others， a lot of really interesting ideas and concepts were brought to light for me and I've found myself thinking about them a lot， so that's a win。 。。。more
Pedro MC
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Good stories and interviews。 It's more inclined towards inspiring than dictate how to make things more user friendly。 Good stories and interviews。 It's more inclined towards inspiring than dictate how to make things more user friendly。 。。。more
지훈
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Thought-provoking and insightful， the authors push you to consider not just the ways in which the definition of design and function have changed in the Modern Age， but also how we can apply our own understanding of design and "user-friendliness" in our own lives。 They make clear how meticulously thought out every function and object we interact with is， tailored to both our strengths and， maybe even more importantly， our most fundamental flaws。 How we concurrently shape the world around us and l Thought-provoking and insightful， the authors push you to consider not just the ways in which the definition of design and function have changed in the Modern Age， but also how we can apply our own understanding of design and "user-friendliness" in our own lives。 They make clear how meticulously thought out every function and object we interact with is， tailored to both our strengths and， maybe even more importantly， our most fundamental flaws。 How we concurrently shape the world around us and live in the sandbox of someone else's imagination about us。 The one question that dug at me throughout the book -- why do we stop at user-friendly design in the physical and digital world？ Everything we create， whether that be an app or a nonprofit， has to be designed with the most basic user in mind in order to succeed， and yet too often， we treat the non-physical world as a manifestation incapable of tailoring to the experience and use of others。 Doing so would be a maybe-not-so-radical reimagination of the ways by which we revolutionize the sectors and organizations that seem most outdated。This is certainly a book I will return to consistently in the future， owing not necessarily to the way it was written （it can sometimes be quite dense）， but rather to the ideas and inspirations it provides。 Coming from an outside perspective， where the principles of user-friendly design are neither apparent nor particularly common knowledge， I think this book provides a wonderful baseline by which programs and organizations can be evaluated。 。。。more
Amar
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Very fun book with a very。。 design based perspective。 If you're a privacy buff you'll hate the tone but love the insight。 For people in the design field， a great look into how much power design has to shape our lives。 Very fun book with a very。。 design based perspective。 If you're a privacy buff you'll hate the tone but love the insight。 For people in the design field， a great look into how much power design has to shape our lives。 。。。more
Lisa Rost
，
3。5 stars。 Read for a book club。 It had some really good parts， some really good information， and wasn't as clichéd as I feared。 That said， it also wasn't as mind-blowing as I expected it to be。 I did enjoy some of the earlier chapters， and the afterword/how to by Robert Fabricant （whose role for the rest of the book is sadly still unclear to me）。 3。5 stars。 Read for a book club。 It had some really good parts， some really good information， and wasn't as clichéd as I feared。 That said， it also wasn't as mind-blowing as I expected it to be。 I did enjoy some of the earlier chapters， and the afterword/how to by Robert Fabricant （whose role for the rest of the book is sadly still unclear to me）。 。。。more
EmelineB
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Largely ignores women in design， overplays the fears and reach of technology， quite biased but may be good as an introduction to the history of product design。
Hannah Schumaker
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I rarely read non-fiction， typically struggling to engage without the excitement that comes from fictional adventures， but I really enjoyed this one。 In particular the numerous examples of design problems （and solutions） made the concepts readily accessible for me。 I would recommend this one for anyone who finds themselves frustrated by the devices in every day life， wondering about why someone would have designed something in such a clearly frustrating manner。 This sheds a bit of light behind t I rarely read non-fiction， typically struggling to engage without the excitement that comes from fictional adventures， but I really enjoyed this one。 In particular the numerous examples of design problems （and solutions） made the concepts readily accessible for me。 I would recommend this one for anyone who finds themselves frustrated by the devices in every day life， wondering about why someone would have designed something in such a clearly frustrating manner。 This sheds a bit of light behind the scenes that many of us can benefit from。 。。。more
Kbeckermann
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DNF。。。 I am very interested in this topic and I think Kuang is knowledgeable。 Unfortunately the degree of detail in the examples/case studies made it difficult to find the key information re: user design。
Julia
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great intro to design with a decent amount of ethical analysis
Fred Voigtländer
，
Brilliant and well-written book on how design evolved over the decades and went to a user-friendlier approach （and still evolving）。 Next to Don Norman's 'Design of Everyday Day Things' a must-read for every designer。 Brilliant and well-written book on how design evolved over the decades and went to a user-friendlier approach （and still evolving）。 Next to Don Norman's 'Design of Everyday Day Things' a must-read for every designer。 。。。more
Adrienne Shih
，
Very nuanced approach to defining "user friendly" design。 Enjoyed how each chapter lays out case studies delving into product design achievements/failures。 An interesting read for someone outside of the product design space — strong takeaways for anyone in an audience or user-facing role Very nuanced approach to defining "user friendly" design。 Enjoyed how each chapter lays out case studies delving into product design achievements/failures。 An interesting read for someone outside of the product design space — strong takeaways for anyone in an audience or user-facing role 。。。more
Vonny LeClerc
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One book every designer must read。 If you're not a designer， read it to better understand the products and services designed for you and so you can hold them to account。 One book every designer must read。 If you're not a designer， read it to better understand the products and services designed for you and so you can hold them to account。 。。。more
Ali Angco
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See my thoughts by adding me on thestorygraph。com
Steve Blakeborough
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A fantastic book， written to appeal to anyone who is interested in how the user friendly world has come to be。 Profiles of key pioneers and case studies are written in an engaging and interesting way。 Would make a great documentary。
Aditya
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Part way review: good topic coverage but is way too verbose。 Most of the time it appears more like one of my rambling blog posts than a professionally edited book。
Tai Tai
，
good but its profound insights become buried under an avalanche of snowy anecodotes
Yvonne Chow
，
This book continually surprised me with fresh ideas since I had anticipated familiar anecdotes about user-friendliness from previous design books。 Kuang wove points in history into why and how we live with the systems， products， and thinking we have today: the Three-Mile island catastrophe that upended the idea of "pilot/user error"; Ford's assembly line that introduced specialization; the unintended consequences of Facebook's infamous like （then known as awesome） button; case studies from India This book continually surprised me with fresh ideas since I had anticipated familiar anecdotes about user-friendliness from previous design books。 Kuang wove points in history into why and how we live with the systems， products， and thinking we have today: the Three-Mile island catastrophe that upended the idea of "pilot/user error"; Ford's assembly line that introduced specialization; the unintended consequences of Facebook's infamous like （then known as awesome） button; case studies from India， South Africa， and China that unveiled different mental models and new research methods; and Disney World's MagicBand that undertook seamless/frictionless design。 In my book club， which includes designers from diverse cultures， interests， and levels of experience， we connected themes and terminology from this book to aspects of our personal lives: developing trust in machines by embedding human-like feedback， creating ethical designs that privilege the future over the present， applying the 3+1 philosophy for driverless cars， noticing visceral affordances that allow intuitive functionality， increasing accessibility for fringe users， dissecting instances of automation paradox and the elements of stickiness， and more。 。。。more
Kexin Cha
，
As a junior designer， I find this book refreshing and inspiring。 It's not a technical book that talks about processes and skills， but I consider it as a nutritional read to enrich my thinking: my role in the world as a designer， and how I fulfill my role in my work。It discusses the fundamentals for successful product design as we learned in school， such as empathy， accessibility， and trust。 I have read many Medium articles on "how to" and "why"， but this book explains these topics with great sto As a junior designer， I find this book refreshing and inspiring。 It's not a technical book that talks about processes and skills， but I consider it as a nutritional read to enrich my thinking: my role in the world as a designer， and how I fulfill my role in my work。It discusses the fundamentals for successful product design as we learned in school， such as empathy， accessibility， and trust。 I have read many Medium articles on "how to" and "why"， but this book explains these topics with great story-telling， referencing the history of engineering， psychology， and design to illustrate what makes user experience design it is today。 More than that， I think it gives the new generation of designers today a sense of mission to make design accessible and humane。 In my opinion， I strongly recommend this book to:1。 People who are considering getting into user experience design;2。 Young designers who want to re-think how they solve problems， and what problems worth solving。 。。。more
Geoffrey
，
An excellent dive into the organic story of user experience design。 For designers and non-designers alike， "User Friendly" informs the reader on the usage and cultural differences in design throughout the 20th and into the 21st century。 Highly informative if you want to know more about design， question the design of everyday things， want to think about the future of design， expand your perspective of how the world reacts and implements design into their lives。 An excellent dive into the organic story of user experience design。 For designers and non-designers alike， "User Friendly" informs the reader on the usage and cultural differences in design throughout the 20th and into the 21st century。 Highly informative if you want to know more about design， question the design of everyday things， want to think about the future of design， expand your perspective of how the world reacts and implements design into their lives。 。。。more
Njoinlife
，
This book has enthralling stories of user centered design sprawling over 100 years， it gets quite good in the middle when the book talks about metaphors in design and how they evolve and ends with an optimistic note even in the times of Oppenheimer moment for digital product design （this was written in 2019） Overall a good read！ Would recommend it to designers and non designers alike。
Prarthana Johnson
，
This book is great for new to user experience。 Its a good reminder of the origins of the practice。 Great historical examples of leaders who have evolved and contributed to space。 I'll forever miss August Del Reyos who recently passed away。 He truly helped evolved accessibility for Microsoft。 Many other leaders were mentioned who help set the foundation of the user-friendly practice in all the digital and physical products we use today。 I would mention that I found many of the examples were from This book is great for new to user experience。 Its a good reminder of the origins of the practice。 Great historical examples of leaders who have evolved and contributed to space。 I'll forever miss August Del Reyos who recently passed away。 He truly helped evolved accessibility for Microsoft。 Many other leaders were mentioned who help set the foundation of the user-friendly practice in all the digital and physical products we use today。 I would mention that I found many of the examples were from the male-centric perspective and either the industry needs more acknowledgment from a diverse perspective。 Or there were a few。。。 I doubt the later part！ I'd love to hear more about gender-neutral and or female-centered products and services。 Many of these inventions mentioned would have benefitted from the diverse perspectives and that's what's key to better user-friendly design。 :） 。。。more
Nicki
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An excellent read for design nerds and normal people alike！
Nicole K
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The content of this book was interesting enough， but someone from the publishing team should’ve thought about those endnotes: to have to skip back and forth to check and make sure I wasn’t missing any context and getting annoyed that most of the notes were references was *not* user-friendly。
Brian Kovesci
，
I've been waiting for a book like this to be written。 I feel reenergized after reading this， like my design tank is refilled。 If you're intrigued， do read it。 I've been waiting for a book like this to be written。 I feel reenergized after reading this， like my design tank is refilled。 If you're intrigued， do read it。 。。。more
Scott
，