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I've been thinking about good design lately. Things have to work well, but life is so much better when they are also beautiful. I think Don Norman's essay Emoti

I've been thinking about good design lately. Things have to work well, but life is so much better when they are also beautiful. I think Don Norman's essay Emotion and Design started me down this path. The Conan OBrien and Jordan Schlansky podcast talked about this in the context of nose hair trimmers. It was very funny, but it really resonated with me too. Schlansky starts with: > I believe that we can live minimally. But the products that I do buy, I want them to be of a very high quality. I want them to have something special about them, and then I have to buy fewer products going forward because they last longer. A little later he says: > We define ourselves by the objects we interact with every day. I surround myself with beauty, with high levels of aesthetic pleasure, and it's not only putting on beautiful clothes. It's also using a beautiful nose hair trimmer. I'm going to get a trimmer, so I want a thoughtfully designed and well made version of that. This has been my mission around my home since the start of the COVID pandemic. Upgrade all the little things around my home that annoy me or that would make my day a little bit better if they were upgraded.

keane 2y ago
You might enjoy the book Quintessence : The Quality of Having It by Betty Cornfeld and Owen Edwards. It was recommended by Jerry Seinfeld in his GQ 10 Things interview. https://archive.org/details/quintessence00bett https://archive.org/details/quintessence00bett The things the book lists are: The Martini, The Ace Comb, Wedgwood Plain White Bone China, The Spalding Rubber Ball, Ivory Soap, Campbell’s Tomato Soup, The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, The Timex Mercury 20521 Watch, The Steinway Piano, Camel Cigarettes, Keds High-top Sneakers, The Oreo Cookie, The Mont Blanc Diplomat Pen, Frederick’s of Hollywood Lingerie, The Slinky Toy, The Brown Paper Bag, The Milk-Bone Dog Biscuit, The Cigarette Hawk Speedboat, Silly Putty Toy, Crayola Crayons, The Harley-Davidson ElectraGlide Motorcycle, The Zippo Lighter, The Cartier Santos Watch, Coppertone Suntan Lotion, The Goodyear Blimp, The Bean Maine Hunting Boot, Green Giant Peas, The Frisbee Flying Saucer, The English Bull Terrier, The Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat, Jockey Briefs, Monopoly Board Game, The Ghurka Express Bag No. 2, The Polaroid SX-70 Camera, Ray-Ban Sunglasses, Budweiser Beer, The Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss, The Volkswagen Beetle Car, The American Express Card, M&M’s Chocolate Candies, Bayer Aspirin, Honey Bear, The Faber Mongol #2 Pencil, Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup, Lacoste Polo Shirt, Steiff Teddy Bears, Johnson’s Baby Powder, The Swiss Army Knife, Levi’s Jeans, Bass Weejun Loafers, The Hamilton Beach Model 936 Drink Mixer, Coca-Cola Soft Drink, Ohio Blue Tip Kitchen Matches, Kleenex Tissues, Barnum’s Animal Crackers, The Marklin Electric HO Gauge Model Trains, The Stetson Hat, Heinz Ketchup, The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog, The Oil Can, LePage’s Mucilage, Tupperware Containers, El Bubble Bubblegum Cigar, Dom Perignon Champagne, The Checker Cab.
roughly 2y ago
I often find there’s a connection between a thing being aesthetically beautiful and good functioning as well. It’s not a universal signal - cheap knock-off manufacturing makes it hard to tell from pictures - but often I find a genuinely beautiful object, one in which the design displays clear attention to detail, exhibits that same attention to detail in the use. Again, it’s not a universal signal, but good, and particularly well-executed design, can often be a signal the maker put the same attention to detail into how the device works and its internals.
- lupire 2y ago
  This is why companies put crap in fancy shells.
knubie 2y ago
If this kind of thing interests you, you might also like John Dewey's Art as Experience. It is among Paul Rand's favorite books, but be warned it is quite dense!
- criddell 2y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation. Looks very interesting. I added it to my to-read list.
lotsofpulp 2y ago
> I'm going to get a trimmer, so I want a thoughtfully designed and well made version of that. Human fingers. Just pull the nose hairs out.
- frutiger 2y ago
  If that's what you're suggesting, you probably don't have that much nose hair.
BuyMyBitcoins 2y ago
Intriguing. Does there exist some website that contains curated examples of such things? I realize that my living space is bereft of beauty, and I already struggle to find “thoughtfully designed and aesthetically pleasing” objects. For instance, I’ve held off on buying quality kitchenware for nearly a decade now due to a paradoxical combination of too many choices and lack of discoverability.
- criddell 2y ago
  I'd love to see something like that as well. One purchase we made 25ish years ago was some Global knives[1]. They have held up extraordinarily well and if somebody stole ours, I'd buy them again the next day. I think they look great, they feel really good, and they are very nice to use. They might be my favorite thing in the kitchen. I don't know where our flatware is from. It doesn't have any branding on it, but the pieces are all pretty heavy. IMHO, a little heft feels pretty good. If I had to buy new bowls and plates today, I'd probably get them from a smaller maker. I learned about East Fork Pottery[2] in North Carolina after they were hit hard by hurricane Helene and have been contemplating an upgrade ever since. I like their stuff, I like how it's made in the USA. Some of it is pretty expensive, but with care it should last a long time and it looks like it would be nice to use and live with. [1]: https://www.globalcutleryusa.com/knives/collections/classic-collection.html https://www.globalcutleryusa.com/knives/collections/classic-... [2]: https://www.eastfork.com/ https://www.eastfork.com/
- undersuit 2y ago
  The BuyItForLife subreddit is supposed to be something like that, but it's also a giant target for advertising.
  - baal80spam 2y ago
    Yeah, I'm pretty sure this subreddit is mostly astroturfing.
    - mc3301 2y ago
      And when it isn't that, it is survivorship bias.
cptskippy 2y ago
> I'm going to get a trimmer, so I want a thoughtfully designed and well made version of that. This has been my mission around my home since the start of the COVID pandemic. Upgrade all the little things around my home that annoy me or that would make my day a little bit better if they were upgraded. The problem I have is that many things don't have a well made or thoughtfully designed version. They just have a more expensive version. There's nothing more disappoint then spending good money on a "quality" product only to have it fall apart as fast or faster than a cheap version.
- criddell 2y ago
  Oh yeah. I've been burned a few times. One heuristic I use is to find out where the item was manufactured. If it's China or some other place where they probably chose because of cost, it's a signal that they may have made other concessions as well. That podcast talked about this a bit. The good trimmer is made in Japan. The crappy ones are "made in a country that is arguably known for some lower quality production methods". I was guessing China, but I really don't know for certain. That said, China can make some great things as well. For example, millions of iPhones and Macbooks are manufactured in China.
  - cptskippy 2y ago
    These days I either buy a specific name branded product that really doesn't have an equivalent competitor, or I go find the cheapest thing on AliExpress because most of what's available on sites like Amazon is just rebranded tat from China.
- larsrc 2y ago
  Even more infuriating is when the more expensive version is the same object but with extra unnecessary features added via software, to the detriment of usability.
  - cptskippy 2y ago
    That's honestly how most products are these days. The base version is lacking one feature that is present in the "premium" version and a bunch of useless add-ons are piled on to justify the expense of the "premium" version. In a lot of cases, the base version is excluded from certain markets and only the premium is available (e.g. YouTube Premium).
moffkalast 2y ago
Both OBrien and Schlansky are worth millions, they can afford to buy the highest quality, most expensive option of just about whatever everyday item they happen to be buying because the price range is from zero to zero in relative terms. There's a better rule to follow. If you think you need something, buy the cheapest possible version that gets the job done first. If you end up using it enough to wear it out, then buy the best option you can afford. Otherwise you're throwing away cash for something you might not ever end up using. Mostly goes for tools, but also other non-necessities.
- criddell 2y ago
  I get what you are saying and have done that myself. I bought a cheap tile saw at Harbor Freight, retiled a couple rooms in my home, then gave the saw to a neighbor who did the same. Spending more on that would have been a waste especially since it's not something I was keeping. A trimmer, on the other hand, is something that I handle every week. It's something that takes up space inside my home. The trimmer they are talking about is around $35 and the cheap version is probably $10. There are times when going for the nicer option is money well spent if using it is a nicer experience even if it does exactly the same thing as the cheap version. Now if the trimmer were $350, that would probably be a hard pass. But $35? That's fine.

keane 2y ago

You might enjoy the book Quintessence : The Quality of Having It by Betty Cornfeld and Owen Edwards. It was recommended by Jerry Seinfeld in his GQ 10 Things interview. https://archive.org/details/quintessence00bett https://archive.org/details/quintessence00bett The things the book lists are: The Martini, The Ace Comb, Wedgwood Plain White Bone China, The Spalding Rubber Ball, Ivory Soap, Campbell’s Tomato Soup, The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, The Timex Mercury 20521 Watch, The Steinway Piano, Camel Cigarettes, Keds High-top Sneakers, The Oreo Cookie, The Mont Blanc Diplomat Pen, Frederick’s of Hollywood Lingerie, The Slinky Toy, The Brown Paper Bag, The Milk-Bone Dog Biscuit, The Cigarette Hawk Speedboat, Silly Putty Toy, Crayola Crayons, The Harley-Davidson ElectraGlide Motorcycle, The Zippo Lighter, The Cartier Santos Watch, Coppertone Suntan Lotion, The Goodyear Blimp, The Bean Maine Hunting Boot, Green Giant Peas, The Frisbee Flying Saucer, The English Bull Terrier, The Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat, Jockey Briefs, Monopoly Board Game, The Ghurka Express Bag No. 2, The Polaroid SX-70 Camera, Ray-Ban Sunglasses, Budweiser Beer, The Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss, The Volkswagen Beetle Car, The American Express Card, M&M’s Chocolate Candies, Bayer Aspirin, Honey Bear, The Faber Mongol #2 Pencil, Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup, Lacoste Polo Shirt, Steiff Teddy Bears, Johnson’s Baby Powder, The Swiss Army Knife, Levi’s Jeans, Bass Weejun Loafers, The Hamilton Beach Model 936 Drink Mixer, Coca-Cola Soft Drink, Ohio Blue Tip Kitchen Matches, Kleenex Tissues, Barnum’s Animal Crackers, The Marklin Electric HO Gauge Model Trains, The Stetson Hat, Heinz Ketchup, The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog, The Oil Can, LePage’s Mucilage, Tupperware Containers, El Bubble Bubblegum Cigar, Dom Perignon Champagne, The Checker Cab.

roughly 2y ago

I often find there’s a connection between a thing being aesthetically beautiful and good functioning as well. It’s not a universal signal - cheap knock-off manufacturing makes it hard to tell from pictures - but often I find a genuinely beautiful object, one in which the design displays clear attention to detail, exhibits that same attention to detail in the use. Again, it’s not a universal signal, but good, and particularly well-executed design, can often be a signal the maker put the same attention to detail into how the device works and its internals.

lupire 2y ago
This is why companies put crap in fancy shells.

knubie 2y ago

If this kind of thing interests you, you might also like John Dewey's Art as Experience. It is among Paul Rand's favorite books, but be warned it is quite dense!

criddell 2y ago
Thanks for the recommendation. Looks very interesting. I added it to my to-read list.

lotsofpulp 2y ago

> I'm going to get a trimmer, so I want a thoughtfully designed and well made version of that. Human fingers. Just pull the nose hairs out.

frutiger 2y ago
If that's what you're suggesting, you probably don't have that much nose hair.

BuyMyBitcoins 2y ago

Intriguing. Does there exist some website that contains curated examples of such things? I realize that my living space is bereft of beauty, and I already struggle to find “thoughtfully designed and aesthetically pleasing” objects. For instance, I’ve held off on buying quality kitchenware for nearly a decade now due to a paradoxical combination of too many choices and lack of discoverability.

criddell 2y ago
I'd love to see something like that as well. One purchase we made 25ish years ago was some Global knives[1]. They have held up extraordinarily well and if somebody stole ours, I'd buy them again the next day. I think they look great, they feel really good, and they are very nice to use. They might be my favorite thing in the kitchen. I don't know where our flatware is from. It doesn't have any branding on it, but the pieces are all pretty heavy. IMHO, a little heft feels pretty good. If I had to buy new bowls and plates today, I'd probably get them from a smaller maker. I learned about East Fork Pottery[2] in North Carolina after they were hit hard by hurricane Helene and have been contemplating an upgrade ever since. I like their stuff, I like how it's made in the USA. Some of it is pretty expensive, but with care it should last a long time and it looks like it would be nice to use and live with. [1]: https://www.globalcutleryusa.com/knives/collections/classic-collection.html https://www.globalcutleryusa.com/knives/collections/classic-... [2]: https://www.eastfork.com/ https://www.eastfork.com/
undersuit 2y ago
The BuyItForLife subreddit is supposed to be something like that, but it's also a giant target for advertising.
- baal80spam 2y ago
  Yeah, I'm pretty sure this subreddit is mostly astroturfing.
  - mc3301 2y ago
    And when it isn't that, it is survivorship bias.

cptskippy 2y ago

> I'm going to get a trimmer, so I want a thoughtfully designed and well made version of that. This has been my mission around my home since the start of the COVID pandemic. Upgrade all the little things around my home that annoy me or that would make my day a little bit better if they were upgraded. The problem I have is that many things don't have a well made or thoughtfully designed version. They just have a more expensive version. There's nothing more disappoint then spending good money on a "quality" product only to have it fall apart as fast or faster than a cheap version.

criddell 2y ago
Oh yeah. I've been burned a few times. One heuristic I use is to find out where the item was manufactured. If it's China or some other place where they probably chose because of cost, it's a signal that they may have made other concessions as well. That podcast talked about this a bit. The good trimmer is made in Japan. The crappy ones are "made in a country that is arguably known for some lower quality production methods". I was guessing China, but I really don't know for certain. That said, China can make some great things as well. For example, millions of iPhones and Macbooks are manufactured in China.
- cptskippy 2y ago
  These days I either buy a specific name branded product that really doesn't have an equivalent competitor, or I go find the cheapest thing on AliExpress because most of what's available on sites like Amazon is just rebranded tat from China.
larsrc 2y ago
Even more infuriating is when the more expensive version is the same object but with extra unnecessary features added via software, to the detriment of usability.
- cptskippy 2y ago
  That's honestly how most products are these days. The base version is lacking one feature that is present in the "premium" version and a bunch of useless add-ons are piled on to justify the expense of the "premium" version. In a lot of cases, the base version is excluded from certain markets and only the premium is available (e.g. YouTube Premium).

moffkalast 2y ago

Both OBrien and Schlansky are worth millions, they can afford to buy the highest quality, most expensive option of just about whatever everyday item they happen to be buying because the price range is from zero to zero in relative terms. There's a better rule to follow. If you think you need something, buy the cheapest possible version that gets the job done first. If you end up using it enough to wear it out, then buy the best option you can afford. Otherwise you're throwing away cash for something you might not ever end up using. Mostly goes for tools, but also other non-necessities.

criddell 2y ago
I get what you are saying and have done that myself. I bought a cheap tile saw at Harbor Freight, retiled a couple rooms in my home, then gave the saw to a neighbor who did the same. Spending more on that would have been a waste especially since it's not something I was keeping. A trimmer, on the other hand, is something that I handle every week. It's something that takes up space inside my home. The trimmer they are talking about is around $35 and the cheap version is probably $10. There are times when going for the nicer option is money well spent if using it is a nicer experience even if it does exactly the same thing as the cheap version. Now if the trimmer were $350, that would probably be a hard pass. But $35? That's fine.