Design
27/05/16 05:11
Although we have the luxury of having traveled quite a bit, we aren’t exactly what you would call frequent fliers. A trip by airlines is relatively rare at this point in our lives. There was a time, a few years ago, when I was serving on national boards and committees, that I made several airline trips each year, could remember where I kept my frequent flier cards and paid attention to ever-changing airline travel rules, but my life has changed and some of the changes caught me by surprise when we recently made an airline trip.
In the online form you sign to purchase a ticket, on the boarding passes, and in several other prominent locations the ban on traveling with hoverboards was impossible to ignore. I don’t own a hoverboard, so it was no problem for me, but I was surprised about what a big deal the airlines were making about that particular travel ban. No hoverboards in checked luggage. No hoverboards in carry on luggage. No hoverboards at all.
The rule is preventive. There have been no injuries due to hoverboard batteries on airlines. The ban is due to a potential danger. The popular toys are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are potentially combustable. The airlines already ban lithium-ion batteries in checked luggage. The batteries power a lot of items, our smart phones, cameras, laptop and notebook computers, and a host of household items. They power larger items such as Tesla cars and home solar systems, but no one has tried to bring their Tesla as carry on luggage at this point. There have been reports of fires caused by hoverboards in other settings and the Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the cause of overboard fires. It also recommends that people who want to own the self-balancing scooters purchase only ones that are certified by a national testing laboratory.
So I get it. There is a potential danger with all lithium-ion batteries. I understand the special label that was on the box I received yesterday identifying that it contained a lithium-ion battery. I had ordered a replacement battery for a camera I use when paddling and it had traveled by air to get to me.
What I don’t get is the way the battery was packaged inside of the properly-labeled box. The space in the box was mostly consumed by plastic air bags assuring a soft ride for the battery. The battery itself was encased in a plastic container that was sealed at the edges. The only way to get the battery out of the container was to get out a par of scissors and cut through three layers of plastic. Although the container might have provided some cushion against crushing, it wasn’t particularly strong. The thin plastic did, however, produce very sharp edges when cut open.
It was just one more example of poor design in our world today. The waste associated with packaging alone is enough to earn the label of poor design. Add to that the difficulty of opening the package and its failure to provide adequate protection against crushing and it is obvious that things could have been done differently. The unique shape of the package, obviously the product of some thoughtful design, was forgotten due to all of the other design flaws.
Once the package was opened, the battery had to be charged, requiring several hours before it could be used. Another design flaw, in my opinion.
In my mind I compared that with my phone that I purchased a couple of years ago. It too had a lithium-ion battery. It arrived in a carefully designed cardboard box. The box was strong and rigid due to internal baffles and additional cardboard inside. The top fit snugly so that it wouldn’t fall of accidentally, but was easily removed when I wanted to access the contents. I removed the phone, pushed the “on” button and it worked immediately. The battery was charged, the only thing that needed to be done was to remove a thin film protecting the screen and plug it into my computer to transfer the downloaded settings and information from my previous phone. Not a bad piece of design. The care taken in the design of the packaging was obvious and appreciated.
To be fair, the phone was a rather expensive model from a company that is known for the elegance of its design. The battery I received yesterday was a bargain brand purchased for its low price. Once the design work was completed, however, I suspect that the packaging on the cheap battery cost more than the box in which the phone was shipped. The box, however, could be re-used and still is around - repurposed to hold other items. The plastic surrounding the battery is in the garbage, where it will likely cut open the bag before it gets to the landfill. I’m lucky to have gotten it that far without cutting my fingers on the sharp plastic.
Design isn’t just the shape of an object, but rather the entire experience of it. It involves how we use an object and how we feel about it. I’m likely to remember the manufacturers of both items: one as a company with which I’d like to do business in the future; the other as a company to avoid. I’m already regretting having selected the battery on price alone.
That got me to thinking about design and the experience of church. We design our worship and other church events around what is familiar, what we like, and our memories of meaningful experiences in the past. We rarely take the time to think about how that would be experienced by a guest who does not share our history and who may have different likes and dislikes. That is a subject about which I need to do some serious thinking in the days and weeks to come. I think we need to become much more aware of the experiences we design and how that design is perceived by our guests.
After all, I’m not the only one who recognizes bad design when I experience it.
In the online form you sign to purchase a ticket, on the boarding passes, and in several other prominent locations the ban on traveling with hoverboards was impossible to ignore. I don’t own a hoverboard, so it was no problem for me, but I was surprised about what a big deal the airlines were making about that particular travel ban. No hoverboards in checked luggage. No hoverboards in carry on luggage. No hoverboards at all.
The rule is preventive. There have been no injuries due to hoverboard batteries on airlines. The ban is due to a potential danger. The popular toys are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are potentially combustable. The airlines already ban lithium-ion batteries in checked luggage. The batteries power a lot of items, our smart phones, cameras, laptop and notebook computers, and a host of household items. They power larger items such as Tesla cars and home solar systems, but no one has tried to bring their Tesla as carry on luggage at this point. There have been reports of fires caused by hoverboards in other settings and the Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the cause of overboard fires. It also recommends that people who want to own the self-balancing scooters purchase only ones that are certified by a national testing laboratory.
So I get it. There is a potential danger with all lithium-ion batteries. I understand the special label that was on the box I received yesterday identifying that it contained a lithium-ion battery. I had ordered a replacement battery for a camera I use when paddling and it had traveled by air to get to me.
What I don’t get is the way the battery was packaged inside of the properly-labeled box. The space in the box was mostly consumed by plastic air bags assuring a soft ride for the battery. The battery itself was encased in a plastic container that was sealed at the edges. The only way to get the battery out of the container was to get out a par of scissors and cut through three layers of plastic. Although the container might have provided some cushion against crushing, it wasn’t particularly strong. The thin plastic did, however, produce very sharp edges when cut open.
It was just one more example of poor design in our world today. The waste associated with packaging alone is enough to earn the label of poor design. Add to that the difficulty of opening the package and its failure to provide adequate protection against crushing and it is obvious that things could have been done differently. The unique shape of the package, obviously the product of some thoughtful design, was forgotten due to all of the other design flaws.
Once the package was opened, the battery had to be charged, requiring several hours before it could be used. Another design flaw, in my opinion.
In my mind I compared that with my phone that I purchased a couple of years ago. It too had a lithium-ion battery. It arrived in a carefully designed cardboard box. The box was strong and rigid due to internal baffles and additional cardboard inside. The top fit snugly so that it wouldn’t fall of accidentally, but was easily removed when I wanted to access the contents. I removed the phone, pushed the “on” button and it worked immediately. The battery was charged, the only thing that needed to be done was to remove a thin film protecting the screen and plug it into my computer to transfer the downloaded settings and information from my previous phone. Not a bad piece of design. The care taken in the design of the packaging was obvious and appreciated.
To be fair, the phone was a rather expensive model from a company that is known for the elegance of its design. The battery I received yesterday was a bargain brand purchased for its low price. Once the design work was completed, however, I suspect that the packaging on the cheap battery cost more than the box in which the phone was shipped. The box, however, could be re-used and still is around - repurposed to hold other items. The plastic surrounding the battery is in the garbage, where it will likely cut open the bag before it gets to the landfill. I’m lucky to have gotten it that far without cutting my fingers on the sharp plastic.
Design isn’t just the shape of an object, but rather the entire experience of it. It involves how we use an object and how we feel about it. I’m likely to remember the manufacturers of both items: one as a company with which I’d like to do business in the future; the other as a company to avoid. I’m already regretting having selected the battery on price alone.
That got me to thinking about design and the experience of church. We design our worship and other church events around what is familiar, what we like, and our memories of meaningful experiences in the past. We rarely take the time to think about how that would be experienced by a guest who does not share our history and who may have different likes and dislikes. That is a subject about which I need to do some serious thinking in the days and weeks to come. I think we need to become much more aware of the experiences we design and how that design is perceived by our guests.
After all, I’m not the only one who recognizes bad design when I experience it.