A Cry for Lady Pens
In late 2011 Bic released a line of pens that came in shades of pink and purple and were advertised as “the perfect accessory.” Bic for Her pens “allow you to add a touch of personality and a pop of color to your day.” The advertisers even went so far as to say these pens had a more slim design for a woman’s hand. But by 2012 the line was both mocked and criticized in magazines, online, and even on The Ellen Show causing Bic to release an apology.
Instead of judging why Bic for Her pens is a good or bad idea (seriously, I’m going to try my best not to be sarcastic here) I am going to think about the design process and why this product was a failure. If we start at the beginning of the product the first question I have is: who saw this as a problem, who decided women have a need for she-pens? I can’t help but wonder if women were buying less pens and they needed to target that demographic to make more money. Instead of asking “how can we solve a problem for people?” Bic was asking “is there a niche we can try to squeeze more money out of? How can we do this?”
When trying to empathize with users researchers observe, engage, and immerse themselves- it’s hard to believe that a cry for feminine pens genuinely came out of this process. I believe the team already had the assumption that women needed different pens and structured the research around that assumption. If all of the questioning was focused around the assumption that lady pens are necessary, then it became a study of “how can we make women like our pens?” versus “what features in a pen are important to people?”
There was also a team that had to design the pens and their packaging- one of the strangest decisions was adding “for Her.” Whether it’s right or wrong there are many products geared towards women (I’m looking at you pink razors.) However, the decision to put “for Her” on the package put the nail in the coffin. In my opinion the phrase shows a huge disconnect between the product and what people actually want. It’s hard to imagine that a focus group wouldn’t catch that silly qualifier.
I believe Bic for Her is a great example of poor design in the sense that they were just trying to design something slightly different to market versus solving a real problem that people have. I also think the team approached this project with the assumption that lady pens should be a thing, but didn’t stop to ask the (now obvious) question “should lady pens be a thing?”