Look at cup in the picture carefully!
Can you see tea marks all along the rim? Can you guess the reason of the tea spilling over all along the rim?
It was due to square shape of the cup that it's content tried to find it's way across the rim while trying to take a sip. In fact it spilled over my shirt since side of the square is longer than opening of the mouth. In case of a round cup however, the flow narrows down over smaller width.
As you may see, the soccer too is so shallow that cup finds it difficult to hold on to it's feet over the soccer. Cup ends up shaking as a result.
I got delayed for my appointment due to spillage over my shirt that made me rework my 'make-up': a mini crisis!
The idiosyncratic miser in me tends to tangiblize everything specially in case of waste.
Why not? Time as also other resources are money! So the resultant COPQ (Cost-Of-Poor-Quality) of Poor-Design that resulted in such rework, that you may also be able to estimate, bring forward a few lessons.
The idiosyncratic miser in me tends to tangiblize everything specially in case of waste.
Why not? Time as also other resources are money! So the resultant COPQ (Cost-Of-Poor-Quality) of Poor-Design that resulted in such rework, that you may also be able to estimate, bring forward a few lessons.
What are the lessons¹?
1/ Designers should take care not to let unnecessary aesthetics spill over functionality unlike an interior designer for instance. In order to make a guest-room 'look' well-appointed, a poor designer doesn't allow labeling² of utility switches even if it means a guest struggling for the one s/he needs: be it a light, a fan, or hot-or-cold water-tap in a wash room. In fact, some fittings have so fancy looking designs that the user looks like a farm-fresh villager who struggles to use them.
2/ Aesthetic design short of adequate functionality may be able to generate initial affinity towards a brand but won't be able to create brand-loyalty that is long-term. Although aesthetics may appeal emotionally, without functionality it won't be able to appeal to rationality of the buyer. S/he looses interest in the offering because it fails to deliver value that s/he was looking for.
3/ It's always a good idea to test designs in order to make them simple and user-friendly by seeking customer feedback.
4/ Merely pushing sales numbers by taking disadvantage of emotional behavior of buyer's desire to grab 'wants' is an age old marketing tactic. Marketers should reset their mindsets and refrain from such overselling.
5/ Buyers should counter marketing tactics by basing their buying decisions on rationality rather than emotionalism.
6/ Buyers should buy because 'it's good in serving their purpose' rather than because 'it's good-looking!'
The example that I began with in this blogpost looks trivial. But the message it gives is not.
In order to know the larger purpose that it serves, you may read Part-2 of this blogpost.
Footnote-1, Reader may add tips and suggestions from her own experience.
Footnote-2, This is the recommendation under Five-S's practice of Kaizen Culture.
Footnote-2, This is the recommendation under Five-S's practice of Kaizen Culture.
Very interesting and extremely well written. You've captured all the little things we tend to overlook otherwise. It reminds me of an article I had once read about ergonomics where they'd mentioned how we can increase functionality just by aligning technology to suit human needs better. Would love to see more posts on this subject!! :)
ReplyDeleteAlthough well researched in west, until the East embedded Ergonomics as a human-oriented practice in Kaizen (particularly in SEITON-pillar of 5-S), world didn't take cognizance of it. It just stayed as an exam-paper in industrial engineering degree. Thanks for your comment and iinterest.
Delete