# The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

29 Hacker News commenters recommended The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Widely recommended primer on design, with frameworks like affordances and mental models. Critics call it wordy and longer than it needs to be.

## Why people recommend it

- Foundational frameworks and design vocabulary (3 comments): "it contains a lot of foundational knowledge/wisdom about design as interpreted broadly that is very useful across contexts" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719478)) "it gives you frameworks for thinking about things as well as vocabulary for talking about those things" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46720464)) "the fact that this is written down and carefully put in frameworks is a good thing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722020))
- Makes you notice design flaws (2 comments): "After reading the book I now keep seeing so many design flaws in so many things around." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719705)) "it made me start noticing and thinking deliberately about design decisions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719165))
- Norman doors and mental models (3 comments): "Norman's treatment of mental models and kinds of errors were the most impactful, evergreen design challenges I faced." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46723473)) "The Norman door was a powerful example for me, as it emphasises that the user is not the problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719858)) "I love this. Thank you for introducing me to "Norman Doors"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46720007))
- Human behaviour and empathetic design (2 comments): "Don Norman's book covers a lot on human behaviour, which is the correct lens through which to view “design”." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46720396)) "is an excellent book for getting in touch with empathetic design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48684883))

## What people warn about

- Wordy and padded with filler (3 comments): "contained several good ideas, but was excessively wordy and would have benefited from being half as long" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719767)) "useful concepts like affordances and signifiers but felt like a lot of filler" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719119)) "It's a good design 101 book. Definitely longer than it should be" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719215))
- Academic and impractical in places (2 comments): "extremely academic and not very practical, sometimes deriving conclusions that are so far from reality that they are a bit concerning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46718780)) "most of it was painfully obvious examples and was overly philosophical" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46721609))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger](https://hackerapproved.com/p/refactoring-ui.md): 14 recommend
- [Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug](https://hackerapproved.com/p/don-t-make-me-think.md): 12 recommend
- [Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick](https://hackerapproved.com/p/practical-typography.md): 10 recommend
- [A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-pattern-language.md): 9 recommend
- [Hooked by Nir Eyal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hooked.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262525674?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780262525671) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman", https://hackerapproved.com/p/design-of-everyday-things/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).