Don Norman
Director of The Design Lab, UC San Diego
About
Donald Arthur Norman is an American cognitive scientist, design theorist, and author who coined the term 'user experience' while at Apple in the early 1990s. He is best known for The Design of Everyday Things (1988), which introduced affordance-based thinking to design. He co-founded the Nielsen Norman Group with Jakob Nielsen and directs The Design Lab at UC San Diego. His work bridges cognitive science, human-computer interaction, and industrial design, shaping how an entire discipline thinks about usability.
Key Contributions
- Authored The Design of Everyday Things, a foundational text in design and HCI
- Coined the term 'user experience' while VP at Apple's Advanced Technology Group
- Co-founded Nielsen Norman Group, a leading UX research consultancy
- Bridged Gibson's ecological affordances into design as 'perceived affordances'
- Pioneered human-centered design methodology across academia and industry
Videos & Interviews
Don Norman: 3 ways good design makes you happy
TED talk on the three emotional cues — visceral, behavioral, reflective — that well-designed products must hit
Watch on TED
It's not you. Bad doors are everywhere.
Vox documentary on 'Norman Doors' — doors whose design tells you to do the opposite of what you should
Watch on YouTube
