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Gulf of Execution and the Gulf of Evaluation.
05.07.26
When Don Norman (the renowned cognitive scientist and design expert) refers to "gulfs" in the context of design and development, he is specifically talking about the **"Gulf of Execution"** and the **"Gulf of Evaluation."** These concepts were introduced in his seminal book, *The Design of Everyday Things*. They represent the psychological distance between a user and a system. Here is a breakdown of what he means by these two gulfs: ### 1. The Gulf of Execution This is the gap between **what the user wants to do** and **what the system allows them to do.** * **The Problem:** The user has a goal in mind, but they don't know how to translate that goal into the specific actions required by the interface. * **Example:** You want to save a document, but the "Save" button is hidden inside a sub-menu labeled "File Operations" instead of being visible. You are struggling to bridge the gap between your intent ("Save this") and the system's requirements ("Click File > Operations > Save"). * **Design Goal:** To bridge this gulf, designers must make the system's functions intuitive, visible, and mapped clearly to the user's mental model. ### 2. The Gulf of Evaluation This is the gap between **the state of the system** and **the user’s perception of that state.** * **The Problem:** The user has performed an action, but they don't know if it worked or what the system is currently doing. * **Example:** You click a "Submit" button on a form, but nothing happens. The screen doesn't change, there is no loading spinner, and no confirmation message appears. You are left wondering: *Did it work? Did I click it hard enough? Did it crash?* * **Design Goal:** To bridge this gulf, designers must provide immediate, clear feedback so the user can easily interpret the results of their actions. --- ### Why this matters for "Development" When Norman talks about these gulfs in the context of development, he is arguing that **good design is about minimizing these two gaps.** * **If the Gulf of Execution is wide:** The product is hard to learn and use. * **If the Gulf of Evaluation is wide:** The product is confusing, frustrating, and prone to user error. **In summary:** When Norman discusses "gulfs," he is not talking about a geographical region or a specific type of software development. He is talking about the **cognitive friction** that occurs when a user tries to interact with a machine. A "good" developer or designer is one who builds a bridge across these gulfs so that the user can interact with the system effortlessly.
https://jnd.org/about-don-norman/about-don-norman/
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