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.
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.