Find a bad design :: assignment 0

21Jan08

Now… isn’t that easy? After all, the world is filled with badly designed products. from handphones with buttons too small for even an imp to use to…. microsoft windows? Actually it was difficult to find a product that stood out from the rest especially since I’ve been so conditioned to live with all the flaws of devices I use daily from doors that refuse to lock from the outsides to having to wind long meandering cables around my devices because I have no idea what to do with so much excess cable length.

Anyway, one design did stand out for bad design. and here it is :

Interviewed a friend who commutes to and fro Cityhall MRT with similar benches about his experiences with them.

The first time i saw the bench, i thought to myself “wow! SMRT actually installed more benches” . Little did i know the product was severely flawed until i sat on it. It was a great disappointment. The problem with the bench was 1.) the seat was tilted downwards at an angle and 2.) The seat is slippery. Instead of giving my legs rest, i had to expend more energy to keep myself on the bench. i gave up after a minute of trying. Appalled that SMRT could make such an error. It’s actually more surprising that those benches are still around despite numerous complains.
– Alex Goh Undergraduate Student in SMU.

It natural that the user should feel disappointed in the product as many would expect benches to be for seating and more importantly to help alleviate the stress and fatigue on their legs as they wait for the MRT. Alex’s interactions with the bench showed clearly that instead of giving his legs some rest, he had to expend more energy trying to keep himself on the bench. Interesting he tried to learn ways of possibly trying to use the bench and hoped that he would find some way that would help him rest his legs, but ultimately gave up and concluded it was not possible. While, the product was not by SMRT, clearly the responsibility for badly designed benches seemed to reflect negatively on the SMRT brand image, although benches are not its products.

I think that many designers for modern contemporary products have seeked aesthetics ver much at the cost of functionality. A beautiful looking bench that cannot fulfill its role as a bench is better off as an installation art piece that brings grief to its interactions with passers by. At least some grooves on the benches might have helped to create some much needed friction. Again, it brings to question the fine balance between form and functionality.

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