The Design of Everyday Things
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Normanby Don Norman
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 12 design books
Widely recommended primer on design, with frameworks like affordances and mental models. Critics call it wordy and longer than it needs to be.
Widely recommended primer on design, with frameworks like affordances and mental models. Critics call it wordy and longer than it needs to be.
31 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 29
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 94%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 29 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 15 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Foundational frameworks and design vocabulary
“it contains a lot of foundational knowledge/wisdom about design as interpreted broadly that is very useful across contexts”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “it gives you frameworks for thinking about things as well as vocabulary for talking about those things”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “the fact that this is written down and carefully put in frameworks is a good thing”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” Makes you notice design flaws
“After reading the book I now keep seeing so many design flaws in so many things around.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “it made me start noticing and thinking deliberately about design decisions”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” Norman doors and mental models
“Norman's treatment of mental models and kinds of errors were the most impactful, evergreen design challenges I faced.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “The Norman door was a powerful example for me, as it emphasises that the user is not the problem”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “I love this. Thank you for introducing me to "Norman Doors".”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” Human behaviour and empathetic design
“Don Norman's book covers a lot on human behaviour, which is the correct lens through which to view “design”.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “is an excellent book for getting in touch with empathetic design”
Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “The Doorman's Fallacy in Action”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Wordy and padded with filler
“contained several good ideas, but was excessively wordy and would have benefited from being half as long”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “useful concepts like affordances and signifiers but felt like a lot of filler”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “It's a good design 101 book. Definitely longer than it should be”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” Academic and impractical in places
“extremely academic and not very practical, sometimes deriving conclusions that are so far from reality that they are a bit concerning”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “most of it was painfully obvious examples and was overly philosophical”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read”
Other design books people recommend
The four most recommended other design books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Design of Everyday Thingsby Don NormanThis page | 29 | 2 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Refactoring UIby Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger | 14 | 3 | 82% | 3 | — | — |
| Don't Make Me Thinkby Steve Krug | 12 | 1 | 92% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Practical Typographyby Matthew Butterick | 10 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| A Pattern Languageby Christopher Alexander | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 33 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This book is routinely recommended here, with good reason.”
“Absolute bible, love Don Norman!”
“is an excellent book for getting in touch with empathetic design”
“It teaches the basics of good interface design.”
“This book is a good read for anyone building anything, software, hardware, whatever”
“The book was a gift and a curse.”
“Even today it is fantastic.”
“Norman's treatment of mental models and kinds of errors were the most impactful, evergreen design challenges I faced.”
“the fact that this is written down and carefully put in frameworks is a good thing”
“most of it was painfully obvious examples and was overly philosophical”
“it gives you frameworks for thinking about things as well as vocabulary for talking about those things”
“Don Norman's book covers a lot on human behaviour, which is the correct lens through which to view “design”.”
“I love this. Thank you for introducing me to "Norman Doors".”
“The Norman door was a powerful example for me, as it emphasises that the user is not the problem”
“contained several good ideas, but was excessively wordy and would have benefited from being half as long”
“After reading the book I now keep seeing so many design flaws in so many things around.”
“it contains a lot of foundational knowledge/wisdom about design as interpreted broadly that is very useful across contexts”
“My main take away was to make controls logical for the thing being controlled.”
“It's a good design 101 book. Definitely longer than it should be”
“it made me start noticing and thinking deliberately about design decisions”
“useful concepts like affordances and signifiers but felt like a lot of filler”
“I hate that book and the professor bragging about designing cockpit instruments”
“extremely academic and not very practical, sometimes deriving conclusions that are so far from reality that they are a bit concerning”
“I love even the cover photo of”
“I re-read the latter as reminders and catch-up readings.”
“This book - or its later editions, should be required reading for ALL engineers and designers.”
“There is actually lots of research in the details of it, which you can get a glimpse of in books like "The Design of Everyday Things".”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.