While having breakfast with some friends, the question “What’s your favourite product from a design point of view of all time”. It was an interesting question and some of the answers were totally linked to people’s backgrounds and personality. My mate N said the book, a product that’s still used hundreds of years after it’s original design, quite similar to the original model still, it was an interesting answer, being a book historian though, it wasn’t that surprising that N said a book.
I ummmed and ahhhhed quite a bit. I wasn’t sure. Finally, I came up with chopsticks. At first people were sceptical. They can be difficult to use, isn’t a fork better?
Here was my rational. Their simple, and yet extensible, when you become good at using them you can find them easy, it’s almost a badge of honour to be able to use them well. Their design hasn’t changed much in decades. They can tell you a lot about personality and traits (Cathy mentioned that in China there’s a belief that you must hold them at a certain position, too high means you’re too ambitious, too low means you’re not ambitions enough). For me they’re cool in their simplicity and watching someone eat with them can almost be artistic – or a train wreck.
Chopsticks also are a good analogy for decisions in design. Simple beats complex. Less complex lowers costs (in most cases), can make messaging and use much easier. From Twitter, to Google to the Mac, to the kindle, books, amazon.com, Spotify, to iTunes. From Uniqlo to the Gap, Hulu to the iPlayer, simple products with a focus on quality and execution can lead to success.
