All in Good Design
Why was it so hard to find water bottle stickers in Peru? Why aren’t reusable water bottles popular in Peru, and why are they so popular in the United States? Read on to find answers to these pressing questions and change the way you think about drinking water.
Two more countries and many more garbage cans - which are indeed an interesting product. Every culture, every era, and every person has some interaction with garbage. How we dispose of our own trash in public spaces can teach us a thing or two about design.
I’m not usually fascinated with garbage cans… in fact, I’ve never been fascinated with garbage cans before. But the variety and diversity of garbage cans throughout the small city of Itacoatiara, on the banks of the Amazon river, was too great to ignore.
How is a triangular piece of fabric keeping rock climbers safe at the gym? Read about what makes the Trublue Belay Gate a good design.
The phone market in the United States is saturated with different brands of phones to meet the needs of consumers. However, one device seems to rule them all: the Apple iPhone.
Have you seen the movie Elf? If not, you’re missing out on a good story with some neat applications of forced perspective. The designers of the film did some good design.
The Fender Precision Bass Guitar has been a best selling bass for 70 years. What made this design so good?
If you find yourself in Las Vegas, whether you plan to gamble or not, don’t miss out on the opportunity to observe some design choices made by casinos that influence behavior. However, don’t forget those same behaviors can be manipulated outside of casinos too…
A well-designed product seems to fill a gap in the market so perfectly that it almost has a sense of reverence about it. It just works; it just fits, and it plays a role in the consumer’s life that makes it worth fixing and cherishing. These are products like the iPod/iPhone, the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, the Swiss Army Knife, and in this designer’s opinion, the Dodge Viper.
Multi-Axis Figures can be powerful in telling a story, but there are some real pitfalls that we see people fall into time and time again. Be careful and know the mistakes that others have made in order to keep your data figures well designed.
America’s Cup is one of the most interesting sporting events in the world, from a design perspective. No, it isn’t the hardest-hitting sport, and the boats don’t reach Formula 1 speeds. The interesting part is that the winner gets to make the rules, and set the location for the next competition.
In this article I look at WD-40 as a model of innovation. Why? Its popularity has stood the test of time, and its story is simple enough for us to extract out what WD-40 did right during its long history. Of course every product is different, but the principles observed from WD-40 are at least worth considering in any innovation setting.
The Chaco is an adventurist’s sandal designed to last a lifetime. They were first made in 1989 in the garage of a river rafting guide. Due to their cultish-like devoted customer base and high prices many people seek to stay clear of them. However, I caved about 3 years ago and bought my first pair.
A common deficiency in heating a room with a wood stove is that the heated air accumulates around the ceiling or dissipates off of the exhaust pipe instead of spreading out to fill the room. Stove top fans solve this problem by blowing hot air next to the stove into the rest of the room. Let’s look into the relationship between the fan, the stove, and the consumer for design principles we can apply to our future projects.
I heard and read that NRS makes very reliable and robust cam straps, so I bought a few NRS tie down straps earlier this summer to try out in a variety of places.
Is nuclear power a dying option for our energy needs? Will this technology be completely abandoned in the near-term? Dr. Munro’s answer is exciting: The future is promising for nuclear power with new investments, new reactor designs, and new allies.
Although the knife has been on the market for 10 years, I bought my first one only 3 years ago after seeing a friend rely on his utility knife way more than I relied on mine.
The creation of the LEGO Unit was not only a meaningful piece of LEGO history but rather a fundamental player in modern LEGO design culture. It’s no surprise the market loves this toy. It’s proven so by buying more than 600 billion bricks produced to date. Enough for every person on the planet to have 81 pieces.
