Feedback

In design we are always concerned about feedback. It tells us how well our design looks or how well it works. Donald Norman says that feedback is "sending back to the user information about what action has actually been done, what result has been accomplished" (Norman, 2002). Feedback can be verbal or it can be physical. Verbal feedback would be someone telling you how it worked. Physical feedback would be either a motion or sound when you try to do an action.

Feedback is the best way to let a person know that they did something correctly or incorrectly. If they don't have feedback they are left sitting there waiting and wondering. Have you ever tried to open an application on your computer and nothing happens. You wait for a few seconds then try it again. Still, if nothing happens you start to wonder if you computer froze or if you did something wrong.

"The absence of sound can mean an absence of information, and if feedback from an action is expected to come from sound, silence can lead to problems."  

-Donald Norman (Norman, 2002)

This week we have been testing our calculator designs. It has given me a lot of really good feedback. Since it is not a working model if the user does something and it is not how I designed it to work  I have to just sit there and they are left wondering why it didn't work. It has been a good chance to see how the feedback of my design is crucial to having a well designed piece and also I get verbal feedback from the person testing my design.

Citations:

Norman, Donald A. "The Psychopathology of Everyday Things." The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002. N. page 27

Norman, Donald A. "Knowing what to do." The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002. N. page 27