Good Design
Design, especially industrial design, can be a wonderful part of life. I have always been a fan of good design and believe I am fairly knowledgeable about it. Thus, when I encounter bad design, it irritates me. When I encounter bad design in a place that should know better, it drives me up a wall.
I remember being in a New York hotel a few years back - one of the places that was, at the time regarded as really hip (how's that for an un-hip word?), and needed to use the men's room. When I walked in, I saw several people befuddled by how to get into the stalls. They were lacking in good visual clues to how the enter them. I was fortunate to see one of the doors open, and from that, was able to figure the solution. I'm just glad that was not an emergency run! I tell this story to point out what I regard as the cardinal rule of good design - it must not inhibit function and should, ideally, make operation more intuitive and fluid.
This weekend, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is one of my favorite museums, but I am beginning to have second thoughts on that. After paying their $20.00 admission (too much if you ask me - museums should be affordable), I went to use the men's room and when washing my hands encountered bad design in action. The lavatories were small white conical undermount bowls mounted to a black counter with very striking stainless automatic faucets. It was a delight to the eye and a nightmare to use. The sinks were simply too small to use without spattering water all over the counter. The automatic sensors on the water were glitchy and I watched as a young European accidentally disassembled the soap pump when he couldn't get it figured out (that's one that I can't really blame the museum for - the design was pretty standard there - but it did show the difficulty of understanding visual cues when your frame of reference is different). Since this museum holds themselves up as the paragon of good design, and thus, should know better, I would think they would be embarassed by this crime of bad design in their bathrooms.
I remember being in a New York hotel a few years back - one of the places that was, at the time regarded as really hip (how's that for an un-hip word?), and needed to use the men's room. When I walked in, I saw several people befuddled by how to get into the stalls. They were lacking in good visual clues to how the enter them. I was fortunate to see one of the doors open, and from that, was able to figure the solution. I'm just glad that was not an emergency run! I tell this story to point out what I regard as the cardinal rule of good design - it must not inhibit function and should, ideally, make operation more intuitive and fluid.
This weekend, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is one of my favorite museums, but I am beginning to have second thoughts on that. After paying their $20.00 admission (too much if you ask me - museums should be affordable), I went to use the men's room and when washing my hands encountered bad design in action. The lavatories were small white conical undermount bowls mounted to a black counter with very striking stainless automatic faucets. It was a delight to the eye and a nightmare to use. The sinks were simply too small to use without spattering water all over the counter. The automatic sensors on the water were glitchy and I watched as a young European accidentally disassembled the soap pump when he couldn't get it figured out (that's one that I can't really blame the museum for - the design was pretty standard there - but it did show the difficulty of understanding visual cues when your frame of reference is different). Since this museum holds themselves up as the paragon of good design, and thus, should know better, I would think they would be embarassed by this crime of bad design in their bathrooms.
posted by Scooter at 11:31 AM
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