The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. And The Useless.
I was recently thinking about the “stuff” we surround ourselves with, and the degree to which good design plays into our lives, making it better or worse. Some designs are brilliant, rewarding the user — while others become dated, or were simply ill-conceived, resulting in disappointments.
In an effort to bring clarity to the “Form vs Function” debate, I asked the designers at MSLK to make a list of the items they encounter every day, grouping them into four categories:
1) Beautiful & Useful
2) Beautiful & Not Useful
3) Ugly & Useful
4) Ugly & Not Useful
Click below to read what we came up with…
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1) Beautiful & Useful
Marc: Monopol Borolo Corkscrew. I seem to be the only person able to use this, but it is sheer brilliance, and totally elegant in its ease of use. You simply turn it in one direction and it does everything for you. You can try to use it if you want, but you won’t be able to.
Sheri: Dustin Squirrel Dustpan by Salvor Mini. In a nutshell (!) I love squirrels. More specifically, I love their fluffy tails. To have an object that capitalizes on this is simply amazing. Even better is the dustpan, which is leaf-shaped…
Ellen: Lemon Squeezer. Okay, maybe it’s not the most beautiful thing in the world, but it’s so nice to use. It juices a lemon without seeds or a mess, and it’s nowhere nearly as ugly or obtrusive as a huge juicer…
Isabelle: Sushi USB drives. These are adorable, and highly portable…
Mariana: Small NY apartments don’t have enough storage space for all the utensils needed to prepare an enjoyable meal. That is why I love this measuring tool, an all in one measuring cup. To top it off, it has a magnet in the back for easy-to-reach storage on the fridge = more storage space!
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2) Beautiful & Not Useful
Marc: Vintage Underwood typewriter. My father-in-law gave this to me last year, and it exists in our studio purely for aesthetic purposes. It’s usable, but sort of useless in this digital age. Every now and again, I will type something in a semi-confessional manner. (Last entry: “It is cold, I should turn up the heat.“)
Sheri: Heller Ware melamine dinnerware set designed by Massimo Vignelli. Coffee cups that turn brown with coffee and can’t go in the dishwasher? Um… someone call the design police, please…
Ellen: I really want to love the logo emblem on the back of my VW that doubles as the latch to open the trunk. Unfortunately, not only does the trunk never unlock properly, but it always catches my fingers in the latch…
Isabelle: Sporks, the ultimate embodiment of “haste makes waste.” Really, you couldn’t decide if you should use a fork or a spoon? Were you raised by wolves?
Mariana: IKEA Komplement Hanger. I loved the circles and the fact that white knit thread covers the ugly metal hanger, but I would like it more if it actually worked for me. The hook is too small for the rod in my closet, so I can’t actually hang it…
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3) Ugly & Useful
Marc: EZpass. Functionally, this works quite well: go through tollbooths without stopping and have the payment posted electronically to your account. Unfortunately, these beige boxes are an eyesore all cars…
Sheri: The ball hanging in our garage so we park in the exact right spot.
Ellen: Bose Alarm Clock. I really like how my alarm clock functions – it’s easy to use and pleasant to wake up to. But why does it have to look like Darth Vader?
Isabelle: Coffee sleeves. Useful but wasteful, and slip-off all the time. I couldn’t live without them, but they are constantly falling off at inopportune moments. There is vast potential in the coffee sleeve for advertising from traditional to guerrilla, as well as an opportunity to platform a message or a design…
Mariana: Carrying laundry to my local laundromat would be an uncomfortable challenge if I didn’t have my handy IKEA cart and shopping bags. I don’t think that I look very attractive pulling this raggedy blue cart around, but it gets the job done…
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4) Ugly & Not Useful
Marc: Fax Machines. They are still a necessary evil of doing business, and one that I hate. They take up desk space and use an old, inferior technology (especially compared to scanning & emailing). Plus, they’re annoying, disruptive, jam up, and are generally undecipherable in the end. Oh, I can go on, but I will spare you…
Sheri: Since I make a point to eliminate anything from my life that is ugly and not useful, I really can’t think of anything meaningful to contribute here. Sorry to be a design snob, but if you’ve ever been to our studio, you know I speak the truth!
Ellen: Clear Post-It Notes. We got these as part of a promotion. Not only can you not write on them with a normal pen, but if you put them on top of something, you can’t even see it. Aren’t these things inherently meant to stand out in a cluttered environment?
Isabelle: Mood rings: Remember mood rings? Me neither. But they sure are fun and goofy and I predict a comeback…
Mariana: Traffic lights in Venezuela. Every time I visit my home country, it amazes me how the purpose of traffic lights has been obliterated by the people. For me it is an interesting but sad fact how an object with a very specific and important function can be stripped of its purpose by the inability of people to follow a rule and of a government to enforce it. It just goes to show how the deficiency of a system reflects in the small details, such as traffic lights, and spreads out from there to the rest of the machine…
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Well, that’s our take on things. What are your examples? Comment below, or email me at marc@mslk.com and I’ll post your updates.