Appreciating good design, pt. 1

I once poetically stated in a Critical Issues paper in first year of design school:

Great design is holistic; that is, in no particular order, effective in its purpose (whatever that may be), responsible in its impact on individuals, society and the environment, and nourishing to the senses, heart, mind and/or soul.

It’s safe to say I had high hopes for my profession.

Then I entered the world of work and realized: perhaps hitting just one of the above criteria would merit the accolade of ‘good design’.

Designing a delightful product or service that improves customers’ quality of life while scaling the business is an ambitious endeavour. It can feel like a Spartan race lined with as many internal hurdles (stakeholder & business priorities, timelines, teams, processes, technological & budget constraints) as external ones (market, economy, politics, nature, etc.). However, when a product makes it through the fiery trials and gets it right, it often becomes a treasured addition to the fabric of a generation’s life.

I believe that good design can come from anywhere — and serve any purpose. Delightful moments can be had in the most mundane activities by design. To rephrase my own quote in simpler terms: Good design gets the job done in an easy and sustainable way, and adds to the user’s overall quality of life.

The following is a (growing) list of well-designed everyday things, in varying levels of complexity, that I appreciate for having improved my quality of life.

1. Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker

Doesn’t it look like a cute white animal? (Image from Zojirushi)

Besides having one of the most adorable corporate logos in existence, my family purchased this smart rice cooker over 10 years ago—and it serves us well to this day. In my opinion, it’s one of the best purchases we’ve ever made. The Neuro Fuzzy cooks up perfectly fluffy rice, porridge & grains each time thanks to a computer chip that can adjust cooking parameters based on varying factors like moisture and temperature. Upon pressing the Cooking button, the machine announces its start (and later finish) with one of its rotating 6-second jingles (which includes Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) — a daily moment of cuteness. I actually feel warm emotions as I write this little spiel, demonstrating how well-designed devices can aspire to special significance in a happy customer’s heart and mind.

2. Google Calendar (weekly view)

(This is probably the visual definition of TMI, so please don’t look closely.)

Yes, I am a Google Calendar power user. I started using Cal as a bullet journal calendar alternative when I was struggling with time management in uni. I use Cal’s weekly view for planning, activity categorization, time logging, casual note-taking, and storing useful info for recurring tasks. With my usage, Cal has become a living data visualization that helps me better understand my time-spending patterns and plan-to-reality ratio, so that my future plans are increasingly realistic and in sync with my natural rhythms. Whether or not Cal was actually designed for my level of use, it has made my Stephen Covey-inspired time management dreams come true. What would have taken me up to an hour to create in a bullet journal is done (and fully editable) in a few minutes.

Some outstanding Cal microinteractions I’d like to call out are the full-block drag-to-reschedule, bottom drag-to-adjust, right-click to change colour and the ‘Today’ button. The most common event editing tasks are elevated from its regular form field UI to fun visual playthings. The ‘Today’ button anticipates my tendency as a user to traverse time and always teleports me back to the present. These little UX features make a big difference in creating a truly useful and easy-to-use digital tool.

3. Bird stand + dish

Interestingly, the bird silhouette resembles an Asian soup spoon. (Image from Walmart)

Another ‘kitchen item’ that made the list is this curious bird-shaped dish that my mom ordered from Asia a few years ago. I was initially skeptical about its usefulness as it looked like an instance of form over function, but I was proven wrong. This dish quickly established itself as the centerpiece of our kitchen counter with its ingenious design. The aerodynamically abstracted bird on its removable perch serves as a lightweight but surprisingly sturdy stand for cookware lids of most sizes. The dish lip is higher on one side to secure lid placement and allow for easy pouring of gathered liquids. Three concentric ridges secure the position of different-sized lids. Each aesthetic detail serves an important purpose — and it was this realization that made me think this cute and slightly kitschy-looking item is in fact a rare example of the ‘union of form and function’. The elegant forms of the bird and dish did not just reflect their functionality: they are the functionality, precisely designed for performance. But thanks to its stylish exterior, this item can easily have a second life in the living room or bedroom as a trinket holder.

4. Auto open/close umbrellas with slit sleeves

I recently purchased two compact umbrellas for different purposes (rain & sun) and they have both impressed me with their thoughtful design. Umbrellas are one of our timeless, iconic objects that may seem too simple to innovate on, but these two suggest otherwise. Pictured above are handle buttons that automate the open and close process with a single press, which are historically (literal) pain points where injuries can happen. The two sleeve designs, while different, both achieve the result of allowing the puffy closed umbrella to return to its home with minimal time and manual effort. Fulton’s simpler slit sleeve design actually affords a slightly faster insertion process. Both umbrellas have changed my idea of the experience of using umbrellas, and as a result I am getting into the habit of taking one with me wherever I go.

5. Tiny water bottle

Now some might think, this is so tiny! Why would it be useful? But as always, the key is the target audience and use case. There are so many water bottle products on the market, but none of them fit well in a small purse or shoulder bag that is often carried to special events. I was having such a problem when I came across this rather unique product on Aliexpress. The lightweight device holds 150ml of essential liquid and fits in just about all bags larger than a wallet. I’ve taken this out on trips to the theatre, gallery and (most critically) weddings and the little bottle seems to attract curiosity and awe wherever it goes. Rightfully so, for a tiny bottle with life-saving impact.

Perhaps this listicle shows that I still have high hopes for my profession—just in a more nuanced light. Perhaps the work of designing everyday things well is one of humility — in truly making the time and effort to learn from our users’ experience, from different disciplines, and from all our wonderfully messy human moments.

There are more items on my mental list but I’ll save it for the next one. If you’re still reading, thank you for indulging my humble first attempt at a design blog. I hope to see you around for all the blogging adventures yet to come.