While I just wrote on the topic of design, I think that it important enough to devote another post to it. I will try to make this one as different as possible by not focusing as much on specific examples but examining the theories behind those designs.
As I was growing up, my father would always talk about how something was a "bad design." As I got older, we would always talk to each other about what we thought was good or bad about some object. He would tell me how the window switch in his car was a bad design or how the new table saw he just bought was a great design. This has made me more aware of how things are build around me. As I go through my life, many times I see something that I wonder how it was ever passed through a focus group. Of course, as I was trying to think of topics for yesterday’s post, they all slipped my mind. It is always tough to think of things like off the top of my head.
My father used to work for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and part of his job was traveling to different wildlife refuges around the country and reviewing the design and accessibility of their features. He would read their pamphlets and drive around the refuges on the tourist roads to see how the average person would experience one of the refuges. Many times, he would point out something that was difficult for him to understand. Sometimes a sign or brochure would be worded vaguely, and he would tell the manager what he thought was wrong with it. Of course, most of the time, the officials at the refuge would say they did not see a problem. This is the attitude that I think contributes to the abundance of bad designs. People do not want to be told there is some problem with their product; they do not take someone else’s advice and a new bad design in introduced.
Sometimes, bad designs are created out of an attempt to save money. When something is made cheaply, corners are cut which can compromise the product. This is the reason for the plastic cases I wrote about yesterday. This is also why many cars are made with cheap materials and shoddy craftsmanship. I have had so many plastic break on cars it is unbelievable. Typically this happens with the interior trim pieces. Just last week I was exiting my mother’s Dodge Durango when plastic covering for the seatbelt snapped off. This is in addition to the several other pieces of the seat that have fallen off since she bought it a few years ago. These changes to the design of car parts has stemmed largely from the cutting of costs by car companies over the last several decades.
I some times wonder about the work of a focus group. Are they not supposed to review new products and give their feedback? With all this, how could a bad design be introduced into the marketplace? I would think that if enough people review a product all the flaws could be worked out of an item. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that people do not always like criticism. If a person points out a design flaw, the designer may think that it really is not a problem and leave it the way it is. It could also be due to not enough people reviewing the product. Different people use a product different ways. Some people may not notice any defect while others find it unusable.
I cannot offer any panacea for bad design. It is my opinion that the best option is to increase the duration of the testing phase and the number of testers. In addition, the inventors should be more receptive to the criticism of product testers. Reviewers usually do not harbor any malicious intent—they just want a product to be the best it can.
As I was growing up, my father would always talk about how something was a "bad design." As I got older, we would always talk to each other about what we thought was good or bad about some object. He would tell me how the window switch in his car was a bad design or how the new table saw he just bought was a great design. This has made me more aware of how things are build around me. As I go through my life, many times I see something that I wonder how it was ever passed through a focus group. Of course, as I was trying to think of topics for yesterday’s post, they all slipped my mind. It is always tough to think of things like off the top of my head.
My father used to work for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and part of his job was traveling to different wildlife refuges around the country and reviewing the design and accessibility of their features. He would read their pamphlets and drive around the refuges on the tourist roads to see how the average person would experience one of the refuges. Many times, he would point out something that was difficult for him to understand. Sometimes a sign or brochure would be worded vaguely, and he would tell the manager what he thought was wrong with it. Of course, most of the time, the officials at the refuge would say they did not see a problem. This is the attitude that I think contributes to the abundance of bad designs. People do not want to be told there is some problem with their product; they do not take someone else’s advice and a new bad design in introduced.
Sometimes, bad designs are created out of an attempt to save money. When something is made cheaply, corners are cut which can compromise the product. This is the reason for the plastic cases I wrote about yesterday. This is also why many cars are made with cheap materials and shoddy craftsmanship. I have had so many plastic break on cars it is unbelievable. Typically this happens with the interior trim pieces. Just last week I was exiting my mother’s Dodge Durango when plastic covering for the seatbelt snapped off. This is in addition to the several other pieces of the seat that have fallen off since she bought it a few years ago. These changes to the design of car parts has stemmed largely from the cutting of costs by car companies over the last several decades.
I some times wonder about the work of a focus group. Are they not supposed to review new products and give their feedback? With all this, how could a bad design be introduced into the marketplace? I would think that if enough people review a product all the flaws could be worked out of an item. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that people do not always like criticism. If a person points out a design flaw, the designer may think that it really is not a problem and leave it the way it is. It could also be due to not enough people reviewing the product. Different people use a product different ways. Some people may not notice any defect while others find it unusable.
I cannot offer any panacea for bad design. It is my opinion that the best option is to increase the duration of the testing phase and the number of testers. In addition, the inventors should be more receptive to the criticism of product testers. Reviewers usually do not harbor any malicious intent—they just want a product to be the best it can.
No comments:
Post a Comment