Full blog on "Living With Complexity"

Title: Living With Complexity
Author: Donald. A. Norman

Summary:
The book starts by discussing the differences between complex designs and complicated designs. Complex things are necessary because our world is complex. This does not mean complex things need to be complicated though. If you are properly trained something that is complex should not be complicated with a good design.

Most people in society would prefer a design with less functions. This is bad because more functionality allows us to be more efficient and perform complex tasks easier. Most people are scared of these complex designs because of bad designs. If they design is good then it make usage and learning its functions optimal.

Many simple designs exist in our lives that cause confusion daily. Using cues we add to the design help us remember important things such as which way we turn the lock to lock the door. We can do this with things like markings or stickers added to the design. This idea suggests that people remember many simple tasks by putting information out in the world as visual cues.

Other cues exists that help us make sense of our complex world. These cues exist in our society and culture and may be used without us recognizing it. These are important because they tell us how to act in new places  or how to drive down the road by viewing traffic markings.


Discussion: 
This book was interesting to read from Norman because instead of telling us about all of the complexities and what makes designs bad, it discusses how we deal with them.  I liked the discussions about the different types of cues we either make or observe to make sense of complex things.