Product Analysis

About Monitors

Jisoo Shon

Published in

Design that Lasts _ Project

6 min readFeb 25, 2021

Team: Claire Yoon, Jisoo Shon, Julia Nishizaki, Matt Muenzer

Lifecycle of Monitors

The average American household uses more than 28 electronic products includes desktop monitors. Its life starts with raw materials such as iron, gold, oil, copper, and platinum that is mined from the earth, transported, and processed. In the manufacturing phase, supplied materials become a complete product through processing, fabrication, and assembly. Then monitors with various specs are distributed in the market through different manufacturers like Samsung, Dell, HP, LG and, Lenovo. And finally, users purchase the monitor and can play an important role in maintaining their device by regularly checking it, repairing defects, and using energy-efficient appliances. After spending a lot of time (on average 5 years) with the user, they head to the end of their life unless the monitor is taken up by secondhand users or left forgotten in-home. If they can be refurbished or recycled, this extends product lifespans and the raw materials can be returned to the initial supply chain to be used again. However, once in landfills and incinerators, the precious materials and critical elements in these monitors cannot be retrieved.

Materials and Assembly

Then what usually a monitor comprises? Though showcasing only a few key parts, LCD monitors contain an array of elements and chemicals within several parts, such as glass substrates, chipboards, LEDs, and plastic housings that are each manufactured by specialty foundries. Importantly, however, many plastics and metals in monitor stands are built into a part nonessential to the display panel’s function. Further, if a monitor’s stand or case suffers damage and the monitor is replaced, this leads to the disposal of a number of rare earth metals and complicatedly manufactured and assembled specialty parts.

Elements you may find in your monitor

Source: Oeko-Institut e.V., National Mining Association, How Products are Made, superawesomevectors

How LCD Displays are assembled

LCD Displays Integrate A Number of Highly-Specialized and Separately-Manufactured Components

Source: How Products are Made (Left), Madhav University; Sharma, Vinay (Right)

Usability and Experience

Even though monitors can last through 30–60,000 hours of use and occupy an enormous amount of space in the lives of many people, they are designed and sold as perplexingly generic, soulless, and impersonal devices. Black plastic and silver metal cases house monitor panels but are not designed for any real human interactions. Similarly, monitor stands are designed to prop up the panels, but usually not to let people do anything with them. More viciously, stands are specifically designed to communicate price tiers when marketers and designers can find no other avenue for differentiation–fixed stands are basic, but articulating stands will cost you.

The greatest level of interface, with which many may personalize their monitors is tenuously fixing sticky notes to their ever-thinning bezels or boosting them with books slipped underneath their static plastic stands. Consumer monitor enclosures are never designed to be memorable, durable, or personal, and to that end are never really designed to last.

But monitors also are also known to be very versatile as users are able to use the laptop as an external monitor and use both screens which makes it easier to multitask and maximize the space provided. Additionally, it can help increase productivity and a better environment with a larger display and clearer picture.

There are some very limited and niche options for independent screens and stands, but these very typically are designed and sold in relatively obscure fashion to “power users” and large businesses who might special order them (and many do not). These SKUs are not made available to or marketed towards everyday consumers, even though monitors are an incredibly common domestic device. Consequently, the business models of monitor manufacturers and vendors build in a factor of disposability for a product that is not customizable or upgradeable.

Means of Disposal

Because of the nature of LCD monitors, not only is it very difficult to repair a monitor without the proper knowledge and tools, but taking a monitor apart is also very dangerous, due to the high-voltage power supply, and the possibility of toxic liquid crystal leaking out of the LCD panel. Because of this, LCD monitors are not usually repaired, and are instead recycled. Recycling can be done at your local e-waste recycling center, or through some retailers and manufacturers, such as Best Buy and Dell. Compared to other forms of disposal, recycling is considered the safest, as other methods of waste management, such as incineration or landfill pose the risk of hazardous chemicals easily leaking out of e-waste and polluting groundwater, rivers, and oceans. Because of this, 19 states have prohibited the disposal of e-waste in landfills. However, not all recycling centers dispose of e-waste safely, as rather than recycling it themselves, some centers illegally export electronic waste like LCD monitors to other countries, where they’re recycled under unsafe and hazardous conditions, endangering both those working to take apart the devices, as well as the environment.

+ Experience purchasing a monitor

In the analysis phase, there was a chance to document the actual experience of purchasing and installing the monitor. The journey started with understanding the user’s specific needs of the equipment. The requirements were mainly focused on budget and spec(UHD 4k, 27") according to the purpose of use. There were various types of market channels like Amazon, providers’ websites, BestBuy, Facebook Marketplace, and other secondhand platforms and the chosen refurbished product took 5+ days to be delivered. The amply-packaged monitor came with a stand, installation instruction CD, charger, and HDMI cable with a protection application form. The installation itself was very easy to follow with image descriptions and well-classified parts. The box and buffers left behind were kept on the shelves in consideration of reselling them later.