Norman 1

After reading the first three chapters in Norman's book "The Design of Everyday Things" I actually had to laugh, not because the material itself was funny but the truth behind it. So many items we come in contact with every single day are designed in a manner that has really no practical use without having someone show you its intended use, or do some serious research on the item yourself. I can think of 1 group of designed products we see everyday and still find many of them impossible to understand and that's Street Signs. Last year I was traveling to Vermont for Thanksgiving and some of the street signs up there are truly mind boggling. For instance this one http://www.ricesigns.com/pictures/around.jpg which if you have never seen before you wouldn't have a clue as to what it means (Drive Around). this one is my personal favorite i found searching the web for more confusing signs http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/presentations/seasonal/previewimages/signs4.jpg and another confusing sign here http://www.ichizen.com/goat/goat_traffic/images/2004_08_26_DSCN7611.jpg and there are many more you could look up and laugh at, but you can get the idea from these few examples.
What really made this funny for me is many people who design these things are government workers, which are highly educated, and yet make some of the most rediculous signs.