Don Norman - Invented the term "User Experience". | B4F #38

Don Norman is one of the quiet but decisive figures who explain why today we open a door, use our mobile phone or browse a website without thinking too much about "how" things are used. In this episode of Brands 4 Future, we trace his life and connect it with a key aspect: human-centred design as a driver of innovation, business and social change.

From electronics to experience design

The episode begins in the middle of the Great Depression, with a boy who constantly moves from city to city and learns to observe the world as a "permanent outsider". This critical look at the everyday becomes the guiding thread of his career: first as an electrical engineer fascinated by electronics and early computers, and later as a psychologist obsessed with the way we perceive, remember and make mistakes.

At Harvard and California universities, Norman placed himself at the epicentre of the cognitive revolution, questioning dominant behaviourism and opting to study complex mental processes such as memory or attention. This change of focus —from machine to brain— allowed him to do something radical for his time: apply psychology to the design of complex systems, such as a nuclear power plant, and reach a conclusion that today remains valid for any good user experience (UX) project: when a system fails, the blame is almost never the user's, but the design's.

The birth of "Norman doors" and a discipline

His experience in Cambridge, tripping over poorly designed doors, taps and switches, culminated in The Design of Everyday Things, the book that turned the everyday into a manifesto of good design. From this arises the concept of "Norman doors": those doors we do not know whether to push or pull, and which make it clear that the problem is not the person, but the poorly designed signs. Norman introduces concepts such as "affordances" and "signifiers", basic today in user experience (UX), to explain how objects should "tell us" how they are used.

This approach fits directly with branding, web design and digital marketing work: a brand is not only seen, it is experienced. Every friction —a confusing button, a broken purchase flow, an ambiguous navigation— is, in Norman's terms, a design failure, not that of "a clumsy user".

Apple, the invention of user experience and consultancy

When Norman joined Apple in 1993 as an Apple Fellow, he created the User Experience Architect's office, becoming the first professional with "user experience" in his job title. His goal was for user experience to have the same weight as marketing and engineering in product development. This vision, which today seems obvious, was revolutionary, as experience ceased to be a mere finishing touch to become a strategic dimension from the very beginning.

After his time at Apple, Norman co-founded Nielsen Norman Group alongside Jakob Nielsen, a world-leading consultancy in user experience research and strategy that sets standards, publishes reports and trains thousands of professionals. This is exactly the point of connection: understanding design not just as an aesthetic issue, but as a discipline based on evidence, user research and strategic decision-making that has an impact on business metrics.

From usability to designing a better world

Norman is also aware of his own limitations. In Emotional Design he broadens his perspective and focuses on how products evoke emotions, proving that beauty and pleasure are as important as functionality. In Design for a Better World, he goes one step further and argues that design, as it has been practised so far, has unintentionally contributed to the climate crisis and inequality. Therefore, he proposes moving from optimising for the individual to designing for society, the planet and all forms of life.

This is an invitation for brands to take on a more ambitious role and think about every identity, every website and every campaign from the user experience and, at the same time, from its impact on people and the environment. At its heart, following the legacy of Don Norman means understanding that good design is not an aesthetic luxury, but a strategic responsibility.