an afternoon with don norman | Sirui Tao's Crib 🐣

Don gave a fantastic talk at DLab on March 4, 2026 about what he has been building after retirement, especially the Don Norman Design Award and the bigger idea behind it. He also did the full hour just standing there holding the mic the whole time, choosing not to use the mic stand, at 90 years old. Extremely cool!

After the talk, I got to chat with him, get the famous Yellow Book (The Design of Everyday Things) signed to Sirui, and somehow even grab a selfie. That honestly made my whole day. Don rarely takes selfies with people, so I was extra happy he said yes 😃 On top of that, he shared really insightful takes on how to better educate the next generation in age of AI and pointed me toward some really exciting research directions! I am genuinely super grateful for that. And yes, this photo is absolutely going into my intro slide the next time I TA CogSci and DSGN courses to impress my students a little, haha 😉

If you are into design, go check out the charity and buy his newer book, Design for a Better World - he told us it is much more correct than The Design of Everyday Things!

Cover of The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman — The Yellow Book, now much cooler.

Signed title page of The Design of Everyday Things addressed to Sirui with part of the autograph redacted for privacy — He signed the title page to Sirui. I blocked part of the autograph for privacy.

Selfie with Don Norman after the talk. Very happy about this one.