Complex Designs: When Has Digital Gone Too Far?
Articles from the International Herald Tribune and Gizmodo.com
In a world where phones have become computers, and computers try to look like phones, where everything from espresso machines to sink faucets has a digital touch screen, when has the digital trend gone too far? There are many articles out there on this subject (some serious and some hilarious). Here are two recent ones that are interesting food-for-thought for both designers and consumers alike.
In her most recent article for the International Herald Tribune, ‘When More Is Decidedly Less’, Alice Rawsthorn begins by describing her latest experience with the digital touch screen: ‘A friend was showing me his new house in which all of the bathrooms were fitted with what looked like gloopily shaped iPods instead of taps... you could change the water’s temperature by pressing one control, and its velocity with another. But, hard though I tried, I couldn’t turn it off. “Don’t worry,” groaned my friend. “It happens all the time.” [He] then went online to find the instructions on the manufacturer’s Website.’
While this story is funny at first, it leaves a rather tragic aftertaste because all of us can probably recall a time when we experienced something similar. It almost feels like everyone has forgotten the old addage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Because as Rawsthorn aptly points out, ‘What’s wrong with the old-fashioned ones that you turn on and off by hand?’ and even more importnatly ‘Who has enough time to go online to find out how to turn off a tap?’
Along similar lines, in this humurous post from Gizmodo.com called ‘Tablet Sutra: How Are We Supposed to Hold This Thing’ a few young designers speculate about the widely anticipated Apple tablet computer with two pieces of cardboardboard, scotch tape and Photoshop. Because as they see it ‘if Apple’s got a tablet, we need to know how to handle it, physically.’ And the experience? ‘It was... unusual.’
