Nathan's Possibly Interesting web site
Commonsense design blog
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of everyday product design
A piece of thoughtful design on the Renault Clio: When you activate the windshield washer, the fluid is squirted onto the glass and the wipers are activated for four consecutive cycles. This is pretty much standard these days. But in the Clio, they then rest for three seconds, and give the windshield another single wipe. … Read more
Our supermarket provides a large billboard for public use, where people post the usual mix of personal ads of all kinds. So many of them, in fact, that any one ad is likely to get drowned or covered by other ads before the day is out. So here’s one person that solved this problem in … Read more
We needed a standing lamp for the living room, and went shopping. We started with some of the larger lighting stores around town, and found a great many lamps, mostly imported from China. Like most manufactured goods today they were inexpensive and looked like they would do the job – for a while. The workmanship … Read more
Recently Elite, a major manufacturer of chocolate, candy and coffee in Israel, launched a campaign to prepare us all for “the same beloved familiar taste in a new packaging”. Every instant coffee can had a sticker heralding the change, then the new cans came out with stickers extolling it. Now actually, the change is minimal … Read more
This morning I get in the good ol’ red Renault Clio, put it in reverse and start backing out, when the car emits a persistent beep. I stop and scan the dashboard, and there I see a message on the alphanumeric display: Select Park. I do put the gear in Park, and everything is back … Read more
Engrish is all around us; here is a recent sighting that made my day. This is from the box of a Teac Media Systems slim multimedia keyboard, model TK-5108. One can’t help but wonder whether this item is noble by birth, being descended from a long line of aristocratic peripherals, or is its praise the … Read more
I’m sure this happened to you: you call the support number of your bank/phone company/whatever, go patiently through all the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menus, get shunted to an “all agents are currently busy” music, waste long minutes listening, and finally get a human to talk to. You explain your request, and the agent politely … Read more
A few days ago I saw this interesting setup on the wall in a medical center. Obviously, this is the solution to the world’s energy needs. No more greenhouse emissions, no need for nuclear power plants, no oil shortages… just a clean, compact, self-contained electrical version of the classic Perpetuum Mobile. The sign, in case … Read more
We’ve seen much diversity of On/Off Power switch symbols here and here… and there’s more. Here’s the latest addition to the gallery: I spied this on a piece of medical equipment (a Critikon Dinamap vital signs monitor). It shows a dot centered in a circle for ON, and the same dot banished outside the circle … Read more
I sent a friend an email with an attached Zip file. It bounced, with a message from “System Administrator” that read Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients. Subject: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The following recipient(s) could not be reached: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx … 552 5.7.0 review our attachment guidelines. u14sm9443132gvf.20 I figured maybe the … Read more