Bad design plus solutions

[Lanolin]

This thread is about annoying things you might encounter everyday, and possible solutions or fixes if you were to design things better.

Who knows maybe your solution will be so inspiring it could change the everything!


I will start out small, and its really a minor thing. But its so annoying. I had two portable CD and tape players ok. I use them as I havent upgraded to the new technology yet (come on, its expensive to keep constantly upgrading! ) But the annoying thing about them is the plug in for the headphones is AT THE BACK of the appliance.

Its like having buttons way in the back of your dress so you have to turn yourself upside down to reach them! If I were designing anything like this I would place the buttons or plug in the FRONT or to the side. I would also make the buttons very obvious so you know which one it is to push play. and. or try to hide them with teeny tiny writing so you end up mashing them all in an attempt to simply play a CD.

Ok your turn.

 

[Lanolin]

I have discovered an amazing invention that is useful for anything that isnt quite working...duct tape.
I use it for labelling and marking and covering over other peoples bad designs. Now nobody can push the wrong buttons!

Hooray!

 

[Lynx]

Weeeeell... Lanolin will never be able to see this so I don't know why I'm bothering, but I have this phone that doesn't have a kickstand. So I made a case out of an Altoids tin. I took the lid off, turned it around backward and put it back on, crimped the corner so the lid would lean back slightly, and cut a hole in the side of the case for the charging cord.

Okay in fairness it's not the kind of phone normal people would even WANT to prop up on a kickstand. It's the Unihertz Atom, the world's smallest rugged android phone.

But I'm not normal, so I use it with a Miracast screencast device (and a bluetooth mouse and keyboard) to make it the world's smallest desktop computer. So I needed to prop it up somehow. Even with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, occasionally I still have to touch the actual phone screen.

This is VERY unpolished, whatever-works tinkering, and I had to stretch the frame a bit, and I didn't even bother smoothing out the edges of the hole I cut out of the side for the charging cable. Just warning you, don't expect a professional look from the following pictures. (Also I took the pictures with a different phone that has a very inferior camera...)

 

[Lanolin]

Very clever lynx ...fyi I only ignore people when its getting obnoxious. Please Dont take it personally. It was probably just for a couple of threads where everything I posted was somehow getting really angry responses from you and I didnt want that to be a huge fight over nothing when it was probably just misunderstanding. Forgiven???

as I was saying DUCT tape. can be useful. But also unplugging annoying things that dont work is maybe better. I have no idea what little gadget you have there or what it could be used for or why you need it.

I had this car alarm that would always go off whenever I opened my car door. It had come with the car when I bought it installed by the previous owner. I didnt know how to fix it so I asked my mechanic to remove it entirely cos it would go off even when I cut the wires. Problem solved!

If someone wanted to steal my car they would have to find my keys first but obviously I dont give it to them, or put anything inside thats worth stealing. They are welcome to an old tarp and cassette tapes...cos the CD player doesnt work either.


yea so can you imagine me driving a brand new car that now come with complex computer systems I would have no idea what all the different buttons would be for. Just tell me where to plug it in and thats probably all I need to know. My brain cant handle coding much more when in my job I catalogue and look after thousands of books.

 

[Lynx]

The little gadget is a smartphone. Like an Android phone or an iPhone... Actually it is an Android phone specifically. But much smaller. But it can still do everything a normal sized smartphone can do.

 

[Lanolin]

Great design feature of books...pages. You can write in them. You can bookmark them. You can turn the pages. You can stack them up and measure how tall you are by them.

Bad design feature of kindles, cannot flick through them or read more than one book at a time. Cant tell how fat they are. The batteries run out. Solution...throw them in the bin.

 

[Mii]

Speaking of kindles. A kindle laptop would be neat (E-ink)

I did a bit of research into it...apparently some companies are working on it but it's rather expensive.

Seems like great tech. Especially with integrated windows of some sort, or just icons where you could have multiple books easily accessible. Obviously it would not be suited toward video/pictures of any sort (except in greyscale), but audio would not be excluded. I've always been surprised that E-ink hasn't ever caught on.

 

[Lanolin]

I dont think it will catch on as Ive been in libraries for ages and everyone talks about ebooks but I dont actually see anybody really reading them. Only a certain type of person who likes gadgets a lot.

Half the time the gadgets break down and not even worth the amount you spend on them.
Remember when Ipods were the latest thing and they had ipod nanos shuffle but that got old fast because nobody actually wanted to hear same song played random over and over and over and over and no way to stop them.

if someone had invented an audiobook listening device that had chapters you could download at a time then maybe it would work but so far nobody has been that ingenious, with batteries that dont run out.

I wasted $80 on a cantonese audio bible that worked fine until the off switch malfunctioned and left it on so it drained the battery, so it never worked again. and the batteries you cant find anywhere. It also, for some strange reason, had a light on it as well.

 

[Lanolin]

I saw this solar power cell phone charger at an expo once, but wondered if that really worked.
Like the solar power torch.

I think you needed to carry a lot of solar panels on your backpack just to charge it, but then, why bother having a phone anyway if you going to be hiking in the wilderness. Wouldnt you rather not talk to anyone from home the whole reason for getting away in the first place?

hmm

 

[Lynx]

Lanolin: They don't make stuff people don't buy. (Sure they might make a few, but when people don't buy them, they stop making them.) If they are making them, somebody somewhere is buying them.

All the things you listed have valid uses. I'll give you one as a case-in-point.

Solar phone charger: I have a grandmother who is 89 years old. I have a camera set up where any of the family (who has the camera password) can check in on her. If I were going hiking, and if none of the rest of the family was available at the time to make sure she was okay, I would feel a lot better being able to call up the camera on my phone and make sure she was still alive.

Also I would still want to get text messages from my church. Lots of information there that I want to keep up with - Sister Shirley fell and broke a leg and is in the hospital, the youth group is going to Fun Zone tonight, etc.

Also I would want to keep up with a Skype group chat I'm part of, and probably send them pictures.

Also I would like to check the weather for the hiking area. If you're about to get rained on, it can help to know it a day ahead of time.

I have other "also" but I'll stop here.

 

[Lanolin]

was given this mushroom kit mum had from work...and oh man the instructions! Is like reading a thesis!
Now if I was going to put a kit together I would clearly label. each piece and only have ONE page of instructions with clear diagrams and about 3-7 steps.

Cos somehow you are supposed to grow mushrooms with this kit but these instructions given in the box will take forever to figure out. And none of the components are labelled. I am considering churcking the whole lot in the bin as well, and maybe the mushrooms will grow.

 

[Brandnewday]

Dust pans! I'm doing my own housework more often now. No matter how I sweep there's always that fine little line of dirt that aligns with the end of that dustpan. I sweep into the pan and there it is. If someone could make a dustpan that receives all that is swept into it, no little fine grains of dirt line, they'd be rich.

 

[ArtsieSteph]

Hehehe I got one that's kinda memey

 

[Lanolin]

The t-shirt dress with pockets...now why dont shops sell more of these???
why do most dresses and skirts not come with pockets or sleeves??? Then you have to have a bag to go with it just to carry your keys...plus another cardigan in case your arms get cold.

 

[Lanolin]

Dust pans! I'm doing my own housework more often now. No matter how I sweep there's always that fine little line of dirt that aligns with the end of that dustpan. I sweep into the pan and there it is. If someone could make a dustpan that receives all that is swept into it, no little fine grains of dirt line, they'd be rich.

what about using those microfibre dust mops or cloths where the dirt or dust sticks to it by static electricity and you can just vaccuum it off.

 

[Brandnewday]

what about using those microfibre dust mops or cloths where the dirt or dust sticks to it by static electricity and you can just vaccuum it off.

I have those. They're great for shelves and things like that, but for actual dirt particles, like in the mudroom, they leave something behind.
And don't even start me on those easy mop things. They have that pad installed, a fluid container on the back. Spray and mop and you're done. What a crock.
You have twice the work if you are intelligent. First you mop a dirty floor with a disposable pad. But that pad had that spray cleaner on it as you mopped. So unless you want that cleaner film, you have to go back over your floor with a whole new and different spray mop, or a real one. Use hot water and clean the film the filthy pad leaves behind. The film of cleaner and the film of filth. Because as it collects the dirt on your floor in one big swipe, after a few swipes, all it has is a dirty pad. So you have to change the pad repeatedly to go over one large floor. What a scam.
The wife bought one. We returned it before she got it Swiftly out of the box.

 

[Mii]

Dust pans! I'm doing my own housework more often now. No matter how I sweep there's always that fine little line of dirt that aligns with the end of that dustpan. I sweep into the pan and there it is. If someone could make a dustpan that receives all that is swept into it, no little fine grains of dirt line, they'd be rich.

I want to say I've seen some that have a rubber matt that extends off the end but rubber has too much friction. It would only take probably a little bit of rainex and some super thin plastic snap on (disposable so you could get more when they inevitably get chinks in them).

So drill two holes in dust bin. Snap on super thin wedge shaped plastic thingy. It'd have to be an add on for sure...unless they made super cheap plastic bins that were replaceable but only the shaft itself was high quality.




Oh and @your last post...I think those swiffer things are terrible. We have them here Just make a mop station for your house if you have the space on a deck or patio or a built closet in adjoining room or repurpose a cabinet with drainage outside. Industrial mop buckets and dump station makes mopping daily a breeze. That's my plan when I have my own place...and a commercial sink with a sprayer lol.

Most of my ideas in the household are shot down due to aesthetic concerns alas.

 

[Brandnewday]

I want to say I've seen some that have a rubber matt that extends off the end but rubber has too much friction. It would only take probably a little bit of rainex and some super thin plastic snap on (disposable so you could get more when they inevitably get chinks in them).

So drill two holes in dust bin. Snap on super thin wedge shaped plastic thingy. It'd have to be an add on for sure...unless they made super cheap plastic bins that were replaceable but only the shaft itself was high quality.

I have that type dustpan and it has a handle so you don't have to stoop in order to broom floor dirt into it. That thin little dirt line is still there. Thin but there.

Oh and @your last post...I think those swiffer things are terrible. We have them here Just make a mop station for your house if you have the space on a deck or patio or a built closet in adjoining room or repurpose a cabinet with drainage outside. Industrial mop buckets and dump station makes mopping daily a breeze. That's my plan when I have my own place...and a commercial sink with a sprayer lol.

Most of my ideas in the household are shot down due to aesthetic concerns alas.

I don't use the dishwasher much because I live alone. That sprayer is great for rinsing dishes. Wouldn't have a sink without it.
There have been some companies that seem to try to copy the commercial mop and buckets. They had one such set that came out as the Spin-Mop. Spin the dirty mop head so the dirt and water deposit into one bin. Then use the clean water in the other one to continue mopping.
I don't know why people don't realize what that Swiffer mop is actually doing to their floors. But anything to make housework easier I guess.

 

[JaumeJ]

A dust mop will take care of it.

A damp mop also will get it up...……….but do all of the floors.

 

[ArtsieSteph]

Ok so I’m an artist and I sometimes have paper that has ink bleed out the back, and it ruins the next sheet. Could we just like have some sketchbooks where they have like a thin blotting paper sheet between the pages? Is that a Herculean request?