STUCK ON AMBER

Upside Down Design

Rio Karma MP3 player (2004). 

This was before touch screens, when we had to rely on hard keys provided somewhere around the screen. The huge majority of hand held devices come with the controls at the bottom, below the display.

The Karma did the opposite, and that was daring. It was surprisingly comfortable, as the thumb would effortlessly meet the wheel and buttons located at the top, making the player very natural to use. But not everyone liked how it looked.

An example of product that didn't sell as much as it deserved, just because we're usually not ready to buy things that look too unusual, even if they're a delight to use. To be fair, the Karma was probably not ideal for lefthanders!

No More Rocking

 

Hallelujah. The iPhone 4 comes with a flat back. Contrary to its predecessor, it's stable! That's more comfortable to type text on the corner of a table. That's possibly my preferred new feature, with the support of the Bluetooth external keyboard, of course. But I don't always bring the latter outside with me...

Spontaneous Forms

"The study of natural and spontaneous forms is of the highest importance to the designer, whose habit it is to use materials according to their nature and their technical characteristics. He does not use iron where wood would suit better, or glass when the logical thing would be plastic. 

The designer of course does not operate in nature, but within the orbit of industrial production, and therefore his projects will aim at a different kind of spontaneity, an industrial spontaneity based on simplicity and economy in construction. 

There are limits of how far simplicity of structure can be taken, and it is exciting to push things to these limits."

- Bruno Munari, Design as Art