Core77

"What kind of a**hole design is this?"

By Rain Noe - March 10, 2011

in Object Culture

Far as we're concerned, anytime a non-design website brings up any level of industrial design criticism it's a win for our field, even if the posting contains curse words.

Thus a recent post on Reddit brought a smile to our face. It was kicked off with a simple photo and a simple comment, below:

Gizmodo Australia picked up on it, adding "Putting the escape and power buttons so close together seems akin to placing a seat recline and cockpit eject button adjacently."

The Reddit post, meanwhile, has spawned over 1,000 comments and counting. I guess the Dark Side of the Force really is stronger -- entries on design blogs espousing good design will get a fraction of that number.

o

Favorite This
Q
12

Comment

Comments

dcypher

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

The same asshole designed the I-phone e-mail page. Who the heck decided to put the trash icon right above the only function button on the face of the device.
!Report as spam
Joseph SPRINGMANN

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

When I saw the post and the picture I thought the problem was with the I/O icon. There's something wrong with it, isn't?
!Report as spam
Scott Rocketship

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

"I guess the Dark Side of the Force really is stronger -- entries on design blogs espousing good design will get a fraction of that number."

Nope. I read Reddit frequently and images and posts about cool, industrial-design focused products make the front page quite frequently. They also frequently show up on Wired, Make, Lifehacker, Boing Boing, and a million other websites. Maybe design isn't the topic of the conversation, but isn't that the point? People love to blog about cool innovations that make their lives easier.
!Report as spam
Richard

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

As an owner of that laptop, I never had a problem with it. And why don't people just disable all extra buttons on laptops? It takes up a bit of RAM to keep them active and that could be going towards better programs
!Report as spam
D

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

guess im just a geek by nature but, caplock, numlock, keypad...... pretty straight forward really
!Report as spam
Michael A. Robson

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Thankfully, it's 2011, and you probably won't be using the ESC key that much anyway.

And as has been said, touching the button doesn't shut off the computer: you have to hold it for a good 3-5 seconds, just like the Macbook power button.
!Report as spam
Ian

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Anyone who knows bikes, knows that Hayes makes killer disc brakes. However, The placement of the tiny little screw that adjusts the lever position is in a spot where as the lever slowly gets closer to the grip (as they do with daily use), the little screw to change the position is harder and harder to get to. Kind of the inverse of how it ought to operate (conceptually). The design would be very easy to fix by running the cable all the way through to the front side of the lever or by providing a small hole in the lever itself to pass an allen wrench through.
!Report as spam
Mark

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I wouldn't necessarily jump to blame the Industrial designer. I'd guess that some BS engineering nonsense is at work here. I would however blame the designer for the cryptic LED icons next to the power button.
!Report as spam
Dmitrry

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I know that several times a day i will inadvertently open my webbrowser on my work PC when I accidentally press the "Web" key when I mean to press "Esc" when exiting out of Solid Works menus.
Also, as for those touch sensitive buttons, I hate them soo much. Soo many times I have crashed my laptop, or turn it on when I didnt want to. When I was just wiping some dust off the key board. and this stupid HP media center boots up the PC or tries to open that, the web browser, music player, and whatever else all at the same time.
!Report as spam
Shawn

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I agree. That is poor design. But is it surprising? Hardly. Every PC Notebook vendor does something equally bad.

HP has decided that consumers want "touch sensitive" smart buttons on their laptops. The "wireless" button to turn on and off your wireless network card is a touch sensitive blue/orange LED light on the top row of the notebook. Guess what, our support department handles at least 5 calls a day when a teacher inadvertently disables their wireless because of the placement, and generally poor function, of these buttons.

Just stop, HP. No one wants those. Every Notebook PC vendor is in dire need of good industrial designers.
!Report as spam
Pancho

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I guess that if it is good, or if it works, or acomplishes its purpose, then it isn't news :)
!Report as spam
Jason

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I'm not saying the button location is a smart choice, but there's a little bit more to the story. Most power buttons are "designed" so accidental presses don't trigger the power. Instead, turning the power off requires holding the button for 3 seconds.
!Report as spam