What are Norman's seven stages of action?
One of the topics that usability researcher Donald Norman discusses in his book, “The Design of Everyday Things”, is a model of how people interact with the real world. This model is called the seven stages of action, or Norman’s action cycle.
The action cycle is illustrated below:
The action cycle can be divided into two parts:
Execution
- Forming a goal about something that you want to accomplish.
- Forming an intention to act.
- Selecting a sequence of actions that will lead you to your goal.
- Execution of the action.
Evaluation
- Perception of the state of the world resulting from the action.
- Interpretation of this perception based on your expectations.
- Evaluating whether or not the goal was reached.
Free Resources
Copyright ©2025 Educative, Inc. All rights reserved