Digital Journal — No matter who you are or where you live, you have likely had an experience dealing with a poorly designed product. Whether it’s medicine, a package of food or a gadget, somewhere along the line you will have fumbled, fidgeted or freaked out trying to use something you bought.
Take your simple bottle of Aspirin or Tylenol: If you didn’t have a headache before trying to open it, chances are you will after. When you finally find the faintly perforated ridges to remove the plastic lining, you then have to remove the cap. This may involve three or four attempts, as it requires you to perfectly align microscopic arrows and squeeze with all your might to pop the sucker off. Once it’s open, there’s that defiant aluminum seal on top that you’ll have to stab at furiously with your nail or a knife. Still, when you get inside, you pull out so much cotton it’s a wonder there are any pills in the bottle. These are great measures to ensure the product has not been previously opened, but is this the best way to package headache pills? The users that likely need this medicine most — sufferers from arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome or aging bones — will have the hardest time breaching this bottle-sized Fort Knox.
How about food packaging? I love Oreo cookies, but not enough to eat an entire package in one sitting. But that’s what Mr. Christie wants you to do: The plastic seal that keeps the cookies guaranteed fresh is not resealable, so after you’ve eaten a couple, the rest of the package is doomed to go stale in days. Who’s the genius that thought of this one?
Similarly, how many people have struggled to open a box of cereal? The cardboard flaps never open where they’re supposed to, and after you’ve contorted your body so the box is between your knees to facilitate an easier (yes, easier) opening, a magical air bubble forces the cereal bag to explode, leaving you with sugar-coated flakes all over your kitchen floor.
The bottom line: Design matters…
This article is part of Digital Journal‘s Spring 2005 issue. To read the rest of this story, pick up your copy in bookstores across Canada or the United States!
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