Monthly Archives: June 2006

For The Puzzle Fans

Posted on June 27, 2006 by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg| Leave a comment

Excellent website if you like puzzles and mindteasers. Some are very simple, others are highly advanced.

The Grey Labyrinth

Here’s a simple puzzle, requiring lateral thinking:

The Three Lights

And here’s some other ones that seem to defy logic:

Monty Hall
How Many Threes?
Mixology

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Posted in Fragments of knowledge

Great Introduction to Good Design

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg| Leave a comment

Title: The Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald E. Norman
Genre: Business/design bible

This book is an excellent introduction to the idea behind usability design – or, in plainer words, designing things so that humans find them intuitive to use. As Norman shows, using lots of examples, it is relevant in almost everything we do; from making doors in a way so people understand they should push, not pull, to designing cockpits in a way that minimises the risk of human errors (surely a desirable goal).

One word of warning. Reading The Design of Everyday Things is the mental equivalent of a one-way street: once you get into the habit of thinking about the design of everyday objects, it is not easy to let it go again. This is a good thing.

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Posted in Books