Tag: design

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Just the right amount

mail-truckHave you ever looked closely at a mail truck? (If you’re in the UK, substitute a milk float.)

It’s a crude design… The bolts are exposed. The gas cap is visible. The corners are square. The windshield is nearly upright.

But so what? Most of the time, it travels no more than 30 mph. Aerodynamics – no need. Style – why should they bother? Speed – next to none. Cushy ride – well, the postal worker might appreciate better.

The cheapest car you can buy has a much smoother design. Its interior is way more refined. But its intended function is different. And car manufacturers have hugely more competition for than mail truck creators.

Takeaway: Don’t put too much effort into something that doesn’t need it.

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Danish beauty

danish-beauty(My daughter is a beauty – but she is not Danish.)

I’m referring to the Bang & Olufsen speaker in the photo (the large speaker in front of Rachel). The local Goodwill had a pair for about $45. Currently, the cheapest pair of their speakers goes for about $700.

I nipped them up. Brought them home. Heather freaked out. “They are too big!”

I took them back.

Oh well, all dreams can’t come true. Their size would have overwhelmed my office. (One of my current, and reigning, speakers is shown for scale, next to the B & O speaker and Rachel.) And they would have required some special connectors to work with my computer’s stereo – at the tune of an additional $32.

Sigh.

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Not secure enough

jackthreadsIt’s true – I worry enough about what people think that I could not wear this hoodie in public. But I think it’s very cool.

Jackthreads is a very hip clothing sales site, accessible by invitation only. They offered this jacket recently. Much of their stuff is sold for half price or less. As soon as the stock is sold, it’s gone.

If you want an invite, just leave a comment. Maybe you’re more secure than I am.

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A sense of occasion

dove-occasionDove got it right. I received this chocolate bar for Christmas. When I opened the package, I was surprised to find three individually-wrapped bars. They were wrapped in gold foil and in a “pouch”.

The chocolate? Nothing extraordinary. But the package gets high marks.

Takeaway: How can you add a sense of specialness to what you are presenting? How can you make your recipients feel special?

Note: the outside is shown smaller than the inside. I just thought you might enjoy seeing both.

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Trabant

trabantKottke, the author of another of my favorite websites, did a story on how a company is updating the Trabant.

The Trabant, you see, is one of the worst cars ever made. (Thank you, formerly communist Eastern Europe.) It was a horrible polluter, terribly unreliable, ugly – and I have now run out of bad superlatives. This company is making it into a fun car that would be desirable to almost anyone that likes new little cars. (Me. In fact, I’d like one for Christmas.)

Humans sometimes amaze me in a good way.

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iPhone Screen?

store-facadeA few weeks ago, Heather and I had a wonderful date at a fancy restaurant in a fancy mall not far from our home. (We had a fancy coupon working in our favor.) Our arrival was early enough that we spent a little time window shopping.

One store had this glass-and-metal artwork on each of the door posts. I couldn’t help but think of what an iPhone looks like.

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Design changes

hard-drivesFashion even dictates the design of hard drives.

Witness my roughly five-year-old drive on the right: red and green lights, angular, hard edges, silver-and-black. A bit cyborg-robot-like.

And on the left, a shiny new Seagate drive: organic, flowing, silver-and-white. Roughly 1/10 the price per gigabyte.

Back when I bought the old model, it was cheaper to assemble one yourself. Now the price of external drives and internal drives is about the same. Good thing! Saved me maybe 20 minutes of precious time.

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Lighten your load, part 1

avanti-bThe Studebaker Avanti was a revolutionary design. It was produced in 1962 – way ahead of its time. Raymond Loewy, the designer, was one of the celebrated industrial designers of the 1950s and 1960s. It is truly a beautiful car, in many ways.

One lives in our neighborhood. And its more broken down twin lives in an adjacent garage. (Pictured is my neighborhood Avanti’s sad eye looking downward.)

I quietly wonder if its owner will do the restoration. Please understand that I am not faulting him (or her) for delaying – I would not be courageous to attempt such a major project.

I would suggest a path to freedom and perhaps a few additional dollars would be for them to sell the car. And its twin. Guilt over unfinished project? Gone.

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No steps forward

yelo-pgs-logos-2

Remember the slogan, “Let your fingers do the walking”? That was for an ancient concept called the yellow pages.

As many have noted, phone books are redundant, if you have access to the internet. (Or in Nairobi, Kenya, they are just simply bad. About 90% of the time, the phone book didn’t have the number I was looking for.) So I am basically offended at the waste of trees and ink and delivery gasoline that it takes to bring me a new phone book about once a month or so.

Anyhow, this latest phone book came in a plastic bag that had these two logos on it (without my editorial comment in the middle!). The swoopy one is the newer one. They lost most of the connection with the original concept. Seen on its own, I’m not sure anyone could figure out what it means. (Two feathers floating down from space? A futuristic alien runner?)

They did not run it by enough people before they clicked “go”.

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