design-everyday-things
design everyday things
What it does
- [ ] Says what went wrong (in human language)
- [ ] Says how to fix it
- [ ] Doesn't blame the user
- [ ] Preserves user's work
- [ ] Provides alternative path
- "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman (Revised & Expanded Edition, 2013)
- "Emotional Design" by Don Norman (design and emotion)
Requirements & configuration
- Every interaction with a product requires bridging two gulfs:
- Anti-pattern: "The user manual explains it." If users need a manual, the design failed.
- See: references/feedback.md when an action gives no clear result and you need the right feedback type and timing.
Derived from the skill's own SKILL.md documentation · extracted 2026-07-23
design-everyday-things FAQ
What does the design-everyday-things skill do?
Apply foundational design principles: affordances, signifiers, constraints, feedback, and conceptual models. Use when the user mentions "why is this confusing", "affordance", "error prevention", "discoverability", "human-centered design", "mental model", "mapping", "seven stages of action", "users keep making mistakes", "this is unintuitive", or "people cant figure out how to use it". Also trigger when reducing product complexity or feature creep. Covers the gulfs of execution and evaluation. For usability scoring, see ux-heuristics. For iOS-specific patterns, see ios-hig-design. [ ] Says what went wrong (in human language) [ ] Says how to fix it
What does design-everyday-things require?
Every interaction with a product requires bridging two gulfs: Anti-pattern: "The user manual explains it." If users need a manual, the design failed. See: references/feedback.md when an action gives no clear result and you need the right feedback type and timing.
How do I install design-everyday-things?
Run: npx -y skills add https://github.com/wondelai/skills --skill design-everyday-things --agent claude-code — the source lives at github.com/wondelai/skills.
Maintain design-everyday-things?
Let people know it's listed here — add the badge (live metrics, light/dark aware) or a plain link to your README or docs.
[design-everyday-things on getagentictools](https://getagentictools.com/skills/wondelai-skills-design-everyday-things?ref=badge) npx agentictools info skills/wondelai-skills-design-everyday-things The second line is the CLI lookup for this page — handy in READMEs and docs.
