The 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer & Cognitive Science is awarded to Donald Norman for the development of the field of user-centered design, which utilizes our understanding of how people think to develop technologies designed to be easily usable.
Donald Norman believes that everyday things need not wreak havoc in our lives. Instead, he likes things that make us smile, things that we can use gracefully the very first time. His goal is to make the interplay between science and application extremely productive, with machines designed so well we do not think about them as machines.