Not all cool ideas are actually good. Back in 1983, around the time the IBM PC made its debut, my boss at Intel had acquired a very innovative personal computer: the Hewlett Packard 150. I remember it well; it was a really cool machine – at least in the context of its day: it had … Read more
One of the first scientific facts you learn as a child is that snowflakes, those lovely art creations of nature, have a six-fold symmetry. And they do; the properties of water molecules see to that. Hence the standard symbol for snow (and freezing, and cold in general). One of the much later facts you learn … Read more
Sure thing, Form should follow Function… but some designers haven’t heard of that. Like the Sony designers responsible for the two weird design choices below. Round knobs are round because they need to be gripped and rotated… an optimal design for our opposable-thumb grip. But the radio below has a round knob whose function is … Read more
I came upon this well-meaning sign at a university guest house. Can’t fault its call for responsible behavior, but what were they thinking when they created it? It never ceases to amaze me how little attention people pay to creating text that is easy to read. You see PowerPoint slides with red text on a … Read more
Those depressing multi-story parking structures are an unavoidable part of a driver’s life… and they can get quite annoying when you need to find your way out of one. Sure, there are signs. Here, for example, is one garage that takes no chances on our missing the exit, and advertises it bilingually and redundantly: The … Read more
Back then we had the Palm Pilot. It had a gray lo-res screen and minimal capabilities. No wireless, no GPS, no games, just basic PDA funcfions. Compared to the android phone I use now it was like a stone ax. And yet, that old Palm had a key attribute that is long lost: simplicity of … Read more
I was in the campus of the Academic College of Tel Aviv and l noticed a little courtyard with a nice deck and some garden furniture. What caught my eye was that the chairs were tilted against the tables. The reason became obvious when I saw one chair that had remained upright: it had a … Read more
We all know these automatic coffee machines: you place a paper cup under the nozzle, hit a button, and out comes a flow of some sort of coffee or chocolate drink. The machine at right is a good example. The problem with such manual cup placement is that you risk misaligning the cup to the … Read more
A while ago I took HP to task for their tendency to fill your hard disk with hundreds of Megs of software when all you need is a printer driver. I am happy to report that they’ve improved their ways… sort of. Back then, I wrote: It is not good manners to sell someone a … Read more
People who design forms never cease to amaze. This was very obvious in the era of paper forms. You’d get forms with fields that are patently too small for their content; like this snippet from one I recently filled: Name ______________________________ E-mail ___________ Cellular: _____________________________________________ What were they thinking?? Many email addresses won’t fit on … Read more
