A good phone-option tree will automatically lead 90+% of the callers to the information they were looking for, leaving only a small percentage that need to be handled by your downsized customer-service team. A bad one will still result in only 10% or less of your customers speaking to a human, but it will leave the other 90% out in the cold.
CDs are an OK medium and have mostly stood the test of time, the real design flaw was the jewel case. You couldn’t have designed that thing more brittle and fragile. EVERY fucking time you drop one of them, something breaks, first of course the laughable hinges on the lid. And the round thingy the CD is pressed onto breaks the first time you try to pick the CD out. A total failure in my book.
The Museum of Bad Design is hosting a special “Packaging Failures” exhibit from December 10th-February 22nd. Jewel cases are featured prominently in this exhibit as are the entire array of “theft-prevention” devices such as REALLY BIG PACKAGES to the JEWEL CASE OF IMPENETRABILITY to the LOOK UP PAGE 76, PARA 2, WORD 16 software instruction set, with a special display on the evolution of those devices which, to prevent you from stealing a $25 pair of jeans, put two small holes in those very same jeans.
I remember one PC baseball game back in the 1990s (Hardball, perhaps?), which had a wheel you would spin to find the right word. That one is in this exhibit too.
Every single gas stove I have ever encountered in my life has worked this way. If you can’t remember “up means off”, you probably should’t be cooking.
Bard’s Tale III, Pool of Radiance and Secret of Monkey Island used those code wheels as well.
Well, that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?
Anyway, I still shouldn’t be cooking, for other reasons.
I mentioned this in another thread:
Tried to pay a store credit card online.
One of the first pieces of information was what day did I want to pay. I put in that day’s date.
On we went, four (approx) more screens with amount, bank account, couple of other things. Then I clicked “Pay Now,” only to be told that I could not use today’s date as it was too late in the day. There was no way to change it on that screen; I had to begin again. Ridiculous, I calls it.
I think admission tickets to this museum should be sold in this kind of way. After putting all the information in, tell them that they can’t actually buy the ticket and send 'em back to the beginning. It might put a dent in attendance, but it would be a great hands-on exhibit, don’t you think?
There are special tools for opening clamshells/blister packs. Guess what they’re packaged in.
There’s a model of teapot which for some reason is very popular with Spanish bars (cheap and sold by the same companies which sell everything else bars need is my guess). That thing pees every which way except through the spout.
Not only that, but there is a clear “hard” stop once you get all the way up; also, the knobs normally need to be pushed in before you can turn them on, and go back to an “out” position when the stove is, well, out. So yeah, I’m with Alessan on this one: “user doesn’t understand the basics” does not equal “bad design”.
I used to own a '66 Sunbeam Tiger. It was a Sunbeam Alpine with a Ford 260 CI V8 shoe horned in rather than the original 4 banger. To change the left rear plug you need to pull the tunnel carpeting and remove a 2" rubber plug. Then reach in with two fingers to pull the plug wire. Remove and replace the spark plug. Then attempt to reattach the plug wire with two fingers. Then replace the rubber plug and carpet. That was easier than reaching some of the other plugs.
The following year the 260CI engine was changed to a 289.
Good times. Could outrun some 'vettes at the traffic light.
Is that bad design or Bastards Incorporated?
This is the first I’ve ever heard of this concept, and it seems intriguing. But why the hell would a baseball game incorporate one of these?
And I’ve never seen one that works this way. Whether Gas or Electric, it’s been off to low to high. Maybe it’s a different standard in the UK.
All the automatic piezo ignited stoves I’ve seen work in the “up is off” config. All the pilot light and push button piezo ignited stoves I’ve seen work in the “down is off” config. Pretty much corresponds to newer vs older.
That’s exactly what the MiniDisc by Sony was.
I want to break a lance for the humble TL.
“tube luminescent”
Or the fluorescent light bulb as you call it.
For almost a century it was the de facto standard of industrial lighting. Cheap, light, modular, extremely reliable, energy efficient.
It is a triumph of engineering.
Alternative systems were heavy, hot or had other weird requirements. Only with the advent of modern LED there was something more user friendly.
If that is bad design…
Those never took off - at least in the US. Since you’re in Japan though, were they more successful there?
This kind of reminds me of the last few times I had to buy concert tickets online through Ticketmaster. Go through all the steps to select your seats, you go to pay and complete your order, the clock is ticking… THEN it asks you to log in with your account. (No option to pay as a guest.) Well hell, I use this site maybe once a year, I have no idea what my account name or password is, so I have to go find my password notebooks and find my TM credentials so I can log in and complete my order… Oops! Time’s up! Start over! I never understood why they don’t have you log in first thing, before you select your tickets.
I think the complaint isn’t about the general idea of a fluorescent tube. Decent technology for its time and the tube is a perfectly good form factor. But it seems the connection between the tube and the fixture (the socket design) could possibly be improved.
Remember, when you break the tube trying to rotate it in our out of the socket, you don’t just end up with shards of razor sharp glass everywhere, you also get mercury-laded hazardous waste everywhere.