I second that emotion...on the 300 Pt.3
The American predilection for bluntness, unsubtlety and brashness does not have to yield bad design. A Dusenberg, an Auburn, a '57 Chevy, '64 Corvette Stingray, a '66 Toronado, a '66 Chevy Impala 2-door hardtop, even any Corvair (which ripped off NSU and BMW bathtub looks if I recall correctly), all wonderfully combine IMHO, and given my often middle American sensibility, splendid proportions and styling details with American taste for unsubtle, brash, blunt styling solutions.
To flesh out my point about "American tastes" (which is an overgeneralization of course, but still I believe a supportable one when viewed in the broadest context of American history of design, architecture, etc., in comparison with its equivalent in Europe), I want to leap from cars to a quintessentially blunt, brash American design icon--the tuxedo.
If I recall correctly, a tuxedo was from beneath the aristrocracy class formal wear in its beginnings. It was an unsubtle, cut away the ornament approach to formal wear. It was popularized by the speakeasy, supper club, nightclub subcultures. It was for a time de rigeur formal gangster attire...just like a Chrysler 300 aspires to be for cars a 90s gangsta look for the fantasy rebels and gangstas of the 2000s.
But the difference between a tuxedo and Chrysler 300 is that the tuxedo's simplification of the complexities of European and American aristocratic formal wear yielded something that was at once beautifully proportioned and robustly elegant, so much so that the upper, lower and middle classes eventually adopted it. Whereas, a Chrysler 300 pears away the subtleties (and flourishes) of European car styling (both the American imitations and the authentic European efforts) and arrives at an ill proportioned, 3-box, hearse on wheels with the elegance of a strong-arm wearing a black rayon shirt, the tux just flat works in the best sense of that American slang. And it works in black or white and nothing else.
In short, I'm all for designing to cultural tastes/sensibilities, if it is designed well, not if it is not.
The 300 is not and was just lucky that the American public was starved for some American sensibility in design. Bad design appealing to your sensiblities is apparently better than no design appealing to your sensisibilities.
Come on Daimler Chrysler, your head was in the right place with the 300. Get your design in the right place, and you will really make money and serve society's aesthetic and transportaion needs.
my stove
It's white with gray grilles. Stuff gets spilled and then cooked on and is next to impossible to remove and it looks awful on the light colors. My next one will be stainless with black grilles, or black with black grilles.
Olive, try a butter bell instead of a butter dish. The butter stays fresher, too.
Bad design
I think the PT Cruiser is an example of bad design because, in part, it's so shamelessly derivative of the 1950s woodie station wagons. And like other imitations such as a Wal-Mart 'potato chip chair,' they only hint at the original beauty without touching on the original's soul. To each his own, of course, but when I see one of those things driving down the street I just shudder. I believe they're a sign of the End Times.
A guy at a pub, who happens...
A guy at a pub, who happens to be a sanctimonius left-hander, yells out after a few bad martinis, all attorneys are assholes! A guy at the end of the bar yells back that he is deeply offended by that remark. The left-hander tells him that his is very sorry, that he didn't realize there was an attorney at the pub, or he would have never made such an incredibly deplorable statement. The other guy says "that's ok, I'm not an attorney, I'm an asshole. - Sandy Koufax
Horribly Designed System
Julia Ward Howe once said of Boston, "the larger proportion of people are loving, rational, and happy". Clearly she had never been to the Registry of Motor Vehicles downtown.
Walk in the door - I meet the "greeter", told her I needed to convert an out of state license. She gave me a number and a form and directed me to the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor greeted me with large sign indicating that I should fill out the form completely. There were, however, no pens in sight, and no clipboards - only open slatted benches.
The best part was that I needed to provide 4 pieces of identification. I brought a passport, my old license, my birth certificate, and something from my bank. I was then given a list of acceptable forms of identification. After I had waited in line for two hours.
In reference to the logical part: A baptismal certificate signed by a priest with no governmental authority will serve as proof of residence. BUT voter registration, which I had to sign under penalty of FEDERAL PERJURY CHARGES... well.. as the clerk at the DMV said "we dont know what kind of identification THEY require".
ATMs
A) they are often labelled as ATM Machines. Since ATM means Automated Teller Machine the labels are redundant.
B) the interface often requires users to press buttons on the touchscreen as well as on the keypad. There is no logic however about which commands use which set of keys. An ATM will ask for you pin on the keypad, then press enter on the screen. Since most keypads already have an enter button it gets confusing.
Also- the CLEAR and CANCEL keys have vague, non-standard functions. Sometimes pressing a cancel key will bring you to the menu screen, sometimes it will cancel everything and pop your card out.
Olive Lefties Unite!
Hi Olive,
As a leftie, and a sculptor I am constantly faced with the inconvenient and dangerous tools designed for the poor right-handed shmucks of the world. Have you ever tried a reverse grip on a body grinder? It doesnt feel very safe.
There is evidence that the lefties reputation of being 'accident prone' or 'klutzy' is simply a result of being immersed in cultures and societies where everything is designed for the righty. Sometimes people adapt - I am quite adept at using scissors with my right hand. I've also got fair handwriting, despite the evolution of the pen being a device that is pulled across the page (instead of pushed, as a lefty would do)
Tools provide excellent...
Tools provide excellent means of looking at design evolution, as they are extensively made, without apology, for use, the screwdriver being a fine example. I've not ever heard too many people say, for example, unlike the Barcelona chair, that this screwdriver of mine sure looks nice but it doesn't work very well, although a nice looking screwdriver can be pretty cool and quite pleasing regardless, especially if the person using it is not very good with tools.
As far as I know, handle variations on standard screwdrivers, have not changed much over the years. Shafts have been standard in various lengths; it is the head that seems to have gotten the most design attention. The Phillips head was for me is a dramatic improvement over the Prince Reed/slotted head. The star did not advance the movement much, as far as I'm concerned, and I have been quite pleased the box head (the use of the power drill to drive screws is a godsend), but what I really needed this last spring was a tool that would fasten new deck boards to their joists without any screws at all. I hate nails and dislike screws, and worse yet, my apparent need to use them.
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