The Design of Everyday Things: Blame the Door, Not the Person

The door had a flat metal plate at chest height. Marcus pushed. Nothing. He pushed harder. Nothing. Then a stranger walked up, pulled the handle next to the plate — and strolled in.

If you've ever pushed a door that wanted pulling, congratulations: you've met a Norman door. And it was never your fault.

Don Norman wrote the book on it — The Design of Everyday Things. An affordance is the hint an object gives about what it can do. A flat plate begs to be pushed. A signifier is the extra clue we bolt on when the hint fails — like writing PULL on the door. Good design answers back instantly — a click, a light, a sound — and maps controls to what they control, like stove knobs drawn in the same shape as the burners.

Your website is full of doors. A button that doesn't look pressable is a pull door wearing a push plate. Blame the door. Fix the door.

💡 The scenario I shared is a fictionalized composite informed by patterns I've seen firsthand. The people are fictional; the accessibility barriers are real.

#Accessibility #UXDesign #DonNorman #Usability #WebAccessibility