Book Reading #52: Living With Complexity

Chapter 3Summary
In chapter 3 Norman discusses how things get more complicated as the number of items increases. He provides remembering passwords as an example. He also discusses the “scaling problem,” something that works well with only a few cases, but often fails as the number grows. He finally mentions how in an ideal world we would not need signs and how too much information makes things complicated.

Chapter 4
Summary
Chapter 4 focuses on social signifiers, indicators in the environment that allow people to navigate in otherwise complex and confusing environments. These signifiers are referred to as “perceived affordances” by some.