[Uh!Wasabi]

Ok, I have a project due tomorrow that I should have been working on for the past week but haven't for...uh...various reasons :whistling:. This is prime material to open up to for help from the great and knowledgeable Osyrus.

Here's the part of the project I need your help with:

Spend several days paying attention to the designs of objects or service settings you frequently use. Keep a small journal with you, noting the positives and negatives of designs that stand out as particularly noteworthy. (As the VP of Apple’s Industrial Design group says, “Ask, ‘Why is it designed that way’?”.)

Then, I have to pick one of these objects or service settings to redesign.


So, great and knowledgeable Osyrus, any of you have any noteworthy designs you can share? We've all got those objects (or services) that we use routinely and either get frustrated with every time or love every time. The only problem is now that I have to write about them, I can't think of many!

Some ideas I've had:
- a rice cooker that you can also steam vegetables in at the same time. (Does that exist already though?)
- shopping baskets at the grocery store - they're the most uncomfortable things to carry around once you put anything heavy in them. they could use a shoulder strap and some contouring to fit around your hip
- the lululemon yoga pants I just bought - great design - they're are reversible so you can have all black or some color, they fit very nicely and are made of good, strong but stretchy material, and they have a little pocket in the waistband for chapstick, ID, credit card, a tissue, etc.

[medeski7]

The Visine bottle is designed the way it is so that it fits perfectly on the bridge of your nose so you can drop it directly in your eye.

[Zander]

medeski7, on 09 March 2010 - 06:59 PM, said:

The Visine bottle is designed the way it is so that it fits perfectly on the bridge of your nose so you can drop it directly in your eye.

That's definitely the coolest thing I've learned today.

[Uh!Wasabi]

:stupid: I had no idea. Why didn't anyone tell me this before? all along I've been trying to aim and generally missing :blush:

[Barfly]

Oh Wasabi, why hadn't you turned to us before. There's a book called The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman. It would have practically written this for you. It was required reading for an ergonomics class I had to do.

Give me some time today, I'll go through it and toss out some ideas to you. If you're still stuck.

This post has been edited by Barfly: 10 March 2010 - 06:14 AM

[Uh!Wasabi]

I didn't turn to you before because I was busy procrastinating :biggrin: . hehe, I did think about it at one point last week but then I got distracted and forgot all about it until yesterday.

That book sounds awesome, thanks! If you come across any good ideas let me know, if not I think I've got enough to get a good start for now. It's not due until 2:00 MST so I've still got 6 hours, plenty of time to add in a few more ideas if any come my way.

[Teenagewasteland]

Crap...I have to stop posting as Brian

- Amy

This post has been edited by Teenagewasteland: 10 March 2010 - 07:49 AM

[amyjaye22]

:stupid:

medeski7, on 09 March 2010 - 06:59 PM, said:

The Visine bottle is designed the way it is so that it fits perfectly on the bridge of your nose so you can drop it directly in your eye.

WOW!!!!! Learn something new, right?

Some random ideas...
1) Love the rice and veggie steamer, and those yoga pants sound great! My biking pants have a zipper in them for me to keep my things - I love them!
2) The snuggie should have a clip in the back so that it doesn't fall off when you get up. (I LOVE my snuggie, and I'm not afraid to say it)
3) In window air conditioners - there's that stupid accordian plastic thing that is supposed to keep the wind out, but never does. And how is tape expected to stick when its wet from the rain? There's gotta be a better way (maybe plexiglass?)


I dunno, that's all I got. Good luck, dude!

[Uh!Wasabi]

Nice, thanks Amy! I will add those in!

[tricky]

nasal tampons - they keep your nose from a runnin' without using medication

porn on the cob - a roll of paper towels with images of pornography on each sheet. it gives young men get something to look at while they do their business and afterwards they flush it. no muss, no fuss.

edited to add.... my rice cooker steams veggies.

This post has been edited by tricky: 10 March 2010 - 09:08 AM

[ShakestheClown]

How about this:

A buddy of mine and I were ice fishing a few weeks ago and came up with this idea concerning ice fishing depth finders, which are little balls of steel or lead attached to a clip.

http://lucky-o.com/Pictures/tackle_pictures/misc/depthfinder2.gif

These are used by everyone who ice fishes to set the line depth for fishing.

Well, everyone's biggest fear while ice fishing is falling through the ice. So, we came up with an idea to make a modified depth finder that could save your life. Usually, everyone clips their depth finder to their jacket somewhere for easy use. Our idea was to use a small steel spike:

http://www.lmpenterprises.co.uk/ekmps/shops/pearl/resources/image/cold%20steel%20spike%20stealth%20%20knife.jpg

attached to the same type of clip already used for the current depth finder. A person could use this spike as they have always used a traditional depth finder. However, if you were to fall through the ice this spike could be pulled from your jacket and jammed into the ice should you fall through. The spike would act as a much needed hand-hold on very slick ice, in order to pull yourself out of any hole.

http://lakeaccess.org/art/fallThruIce.jpg

I don't know if this product already exists or not, but I do ice fish and I haven't seen it anywhere. Also, if you are concerned about the sharp metal point swinging around, while the pick/depth finder is on your jacket, you could add a small, thin plastic cap to the bottom of the spike.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Uh!Wasabi, on 09 March 2010 - 04:37 PM, said:

- shopping baskets at the grocery store - they're the most uncomfortable things to carry around once you put anything heavy in them. they could use a shoulder strap and some contouring to fit around your hip.

Conversly, the smaller half-carts (on wheels) they have nowadays are perfect! When you want more groceries than a hand-basket, but less than the huge old-school cart. The ones at safeway have a little shelf for your purse and a drink holder. Me rikey.

Something that doesn't work for me is the "end" button on my cell phone. It's a verizon LG env2 model. Anytime I want to do something hands-free and cradle the phone between my face and should, my cheekbone ends the call. Bad place for an important, call-ending button. :evil:

I'm sure I can think of more.


Also, shakes! that is a great invention!

[dug less beers]

how about the Toyota Prius?

[Uh!Wasabi]

tricky, on 10 March 2010 - 09:07 AM, said:

nasal tampons - they keep your nose from a runnin' without using medication

porn on the cob - a roll of paper towels with images of pornography on each sheet. it gives young men get something to look at while they do their business and afterwards they flush it. no muss, no fuss.

edited to add.... my rice cooker steams veggies.

:lol: I'm not sure I could turn that second one in to my professor although it is very inventive. Maybe it could be combined with this genius idea:
http://www.oceansofosyrus.com/forums/uploads/1267664160/gallery_1243_213_449994.png

Does your rice cooker steam veggies at the same time as it cooks rice though? That's what I'm really after.

Shakes, that is a great idea! I might just have to add that one in.

Herc, I agree on those half carts - they're awesome :yes: . But, it's still something you have to push around and sometimes I just want to zoom through and not worry about a cart at all.

Dug, what about the Prius?

[tricky]

Uh!Wasabi, on 10 March 2010 - 09:57 AM, said:

Does your rice cooker steam veggies at the same time as it cooks rice though? That's what I'm really after.

yes. it's like a collander that sits on top of the main bowl. as the steam comes up through the rice, the steam goes through holes in the bottom of the collander to cook the veggies. it sits on top of the main bowl like a two inch tall ring extension. the regular lid for the rice bowl fits on top of the ring when it's in use. BUT... when i use the steamer, the lid doesn't seal as good, like when i'm just doing rice alone.

ya know, the inside of my rice cooker is aluminum. it would be nice if it was either coated with something that didn't make a 1/4" layer of overcooked rice, or heated the bowl differently to not cause it to do that. i always have to soak the bowl for a few hours to get that bottom layer to release. that stuff becomes a glue!

as far as cooking gadgets go, i really like my egg skillet. it's a tiny skillet that fries one to two eggs without them getting all spread out and flat, like on a regular skillet.

how about making a new cork for wine? one that gets you the oxygen barrier benefits and ease of use of screw tops, but still makes that awesome popping sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle of wine. people love that sound. real cork has, by my experience, about a 5% failure rate by spoiling bottles of wine. synthetic corks are hard to remove and either don't allow the wine to age gracefully or they cause the wine to age too quickly. screw tops are actually better, but they have that stigma of cheap wine.

This post has been edited by tricky: 10 March 2010 - 10:24 AM

[dug less beers]

Uh!Wasabi, on 10 March 2010 - 09:57 AM, said:

Dug, what about the Prius?

I'm sure you could find some positives and negatives of the Prius (or at least the accelerator pedal) design that stand out as particularly noteworthy.

[Uh!Wasabi]

Wow, thanks guys! Those are some great ideas and y'all really helped round out my project. Tricky, I used the egg skillet and the wine cork ideas - good calls. Actually, I used most of your ideas - Visine bottle is in there as are the snuggie, window AC, and ice fishing stake. I knew the Osyrus would come through :hugs:

If anyone has more ideas, feel free to keep 'em coming! Fluffygnar is also in my class and could probably use some ideas and I could use them later in this class too.

[Gratefuldecker]

I have 2:

1. U-turn signal on an autombile.

Would come inhandy to let the people behind you and on coming traffic to know what you're doing. A click button on your turn signal which could only be activated with the left turn signal engauged.

I also think it would need to be purple as all the other colors are spoken for.

2. On your flip down visor in a car, there is a sunglass tint layer (which flips down) in addition to the actual visor. Many times I need to be protected from the sun but i sit up too high in the car and the visor blocks my vision entirely.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

I was just in target and thought of you when I went to grab my basket.

Look!
http://www.oceansofosyrus.com/forums/uploads/1267664160/gallery_152_125_89807.jpg

Is this what you had in mind?

[Zander]

Hercules Rockefeller, on 10 March 2010 - 09:45 AM, said:

Me rikey.

I just had to post that Herc is awesome. :lol: :lol: :lol: