Why doesn't someone just...


I've been going round the bend trying to think of products which failed because of poor design for a work project. I googled, yahooed and hailed cubicle-mates and SLOC, to no avail. I came up with lots of information on products that failed due to lots of other reasons - misreading the consumer, mistiming the market, screwing up at the back office, but rarely were there mentions of poor design, except for a couple of Apple flops - the first laptop they came up with weighed 15 kilos! And their puckmouse apparently actually hurt your hand.


Why is that? Are there so few products out there that have poor design? Do we live in a world where most products are intuitively and brilliantly designed? I wish!


I think the real reason is that we as consumers don't protest enough. We see a poorly designed product and accept it, either 'for the time being' or because 'no one has anything better'. Come on, people, it's about time we took our consuming power with us when we go shopping, along with our credit cards.


Here's my wishlist (or whinelist) for some daily peeves. Feel free to add more!


Why doesn't someone just...


invent a lightweight battery for a laptop? It seems to me like the battery weighs almost as much as the computer!


come up with a better paper towel dispenser for washrooms? Right now either you pull out none, or a wad of paper towels because they're packed too tight.


create car and house keys with a gps so you can always find them?


craft luggage that actually drives straight instead of veering all over the airport?


create an easy to use remote for the TV/ DVD player/ whatever?
make batteries which actually last? I'm telling you I must have spent $ 1000 on batteries for my son's toys in the last year. And the re-chargeable ones? Ha, don't get me started!

Comments

Bong Mom said…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr

Bad keyboard design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Fiero
bad cooling design and more
December 5, 2007 at 7:44 AM
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