Does Don Norman Want an iPad?
Thursday, February 25th, 2010No word on his website, but renowned computer science professor and design critic Don Norman has some pretty interesting things to say about a magical future device in his 1988 book The Design of Everyday Things (originally published as The Psychology of Everyday Things). Here’s what he says, when imagining a future computing system:
“The imaginary calendar looks like a calendar. It’s about the size of a standard pad of paper, it opens up to display dates. But it really is a computer, so it can do things that today’s appointment calendar cannot. It can, for example, present its information in different formats: it can display the pages compressed so that a whole year fits on one page; it can expand the display so that I can see a single day in thirty-minute intervals. Because I frequently use my calendar in conjuction with my travels, the calendar is also an address book, notepad, and expense account record. Most importantly, it can also connect itself to my other systems (via a wireless infrared or electromagnetic channel). Thus, whatever I enter into the calendar gets transmitted to my office and home systems so that they are always in synchrony. [...] The computer is invisible, hidden beneath the surface; only the task is visible. Although I may actually be using a computer, I feel as if I am using my appointment calendar.”
That sounds an awful lot like an iPad. The iPad is about the size of a pad of paper. Its calendar application looks like an actual date book. While it can’t expand to show an entire year (and I’m actually not clear why that would be a good feature), it can show an entire month, week, or day. It can sync when connected to a computer, or by using a CalDAV server (e.g., Apple’s MobileMe service or Google Calendar) so that everything stays updated.
He also asks for an address book, notepad, and expense account program. Apple ships the iPad with an address book and notepad applications (designed to look just like a real address book and real notepad). These also can be synced with multiple computers. And I’m certain there are multiple expense account programs that can be downloaded from the App Store.
Most importantly, the iPad is a computer that doesn’t look like a computer. When Prof. Norman wrote the book, computer graphical user interfaces were becoming more common. Today, they are universal but also quite confusing. The iPad transforms to become the application, and thus it does feel very much like you are interacting with an appointment book rather than a computer program. One of the selling points mentioned when Apple debuted the iPad was that the device disappears, and you feel like you are interacting with only the content.
I would love to hear Prof. Norman’s thoughts on the iPad. So far, I can find only a quote from him in a Wall Street Journal article:
Don Norman, a tech-design pioneer and professor of design at Northwestern University, went a step further. “I think it has redefined the computer,” he said. “The laptop is now obsolete. The multitouch interface now extends to word processing and spreadsheets.”
I guess we can put him in the ridiculously enthusiastic camp. Count me as a member as well.