Design Evolves

If the 7 Series BMW or the New E-Class Mercedes are a great piece of design work, it is a result of nearly a hundered years of evolutionary design work.

The lastest models from these companies are an improvement on an earlier model that was already very refined design.

It would be quite unlikely that a designer given a 1950 model of the BMW as the base to improve upon (with no other new design input) could produce a design that looked like the 2010 model.

Big steps and jumps are indeed possible in design work but the basic nature of designing remains evolutionary.

Design for the life cycle

First there was design for Fashion

Then there was design for Manufacturability (high volume - low cost)

Then there was design for Quality

Now we need, design for the Life Cycle.

What happens over the life cycle of a product or service, from raw material to renewal and/or death. What are the impact of the product or service on costs, life and environment over its entire life cycle, will/should drive design.

iPhone - Design is the difference

Most of the pieces of technology and manufacturing methods that go into making of an iPhone are also available to other handset manufacturers. Design is the difference.

Purpose drives design choice

The iPad has already sold over 2 million units in the first few weeks of its launch. Remember the tablet PC? (sorry! maybe you own one).

In comparison to the Microsoft's tablet PC, the iPad has a more focused purpose - that of browsing and viewing therefore it lends itself to a greater design sophistication and excellence. It is the trade off (the choice of not doing some things, of leaving somethings out) that creates the room for greater sophistication in the direction of what you choose to do.

A good design is more likely when the purpose is defined in a simple coherent way.

Design of an environmentally friendly public toilet

I have often (almost always) been saddened by the how unclean public toilets in India are. Much money has been spent on building public toilets that are difficult to clean and expensive to maintain.

So on a recent trip to Konoor, I was delighted to see a public toilet that was so simple in its design that it would have cost next to nothing. But also that the design was so elegant that it was both easy to clean and maintain (actually maintenance free).

A channel that runs on top of a brick wall, about two and a half feet in height, is used for urination. The channel slopes down wards to allow quick and easy flow of urine to the end of the channel where it flows into an underground tank filled with brick pieces to allow for quick and easy absorption of the urine before it slowly seeps into the ground below.

A small tap placed at the other end of the channel is turned on whenever there is a need to clean the channel (which is not very often). The effort required to clean the channel is minimal.

There is virtually no need for chemicals to disinfect or deodorise the toilet as there is no spilling, splashing or accumulation of urine due to broken or clogged pipes or vessels.

The design positively impacts economical, environmental and social aspects. I hope more public toilets make use of such designs.