Wow...I'm now so negligent with my Featured Foto Fridays that I'm ashamed to even post one.
Ah, the hell with it, let's give it a shot.
I was traveling in Dallas this week, working with a client and visiting an old friend, Deb. On Thursday, she picked me up from my hotel and we headed for her office. Deb has a lovely car, a BMW 535. On the way to her office, Deb wanted to stop for a de-caf soy latte. (Is this a great country, or what?)
So, Deb stopped in front of a coffee shop and asked me to mind the car while she ran in. There I was, sitting in this Beemer, just taking in the lovely Texas morning, when I happened to glance down at the front-seat console, and saw this:
Sitting there in the middle of this lovely burl, leather and brushed stainless control panel is a...a...sticker! Huh? I looked more closely.
Oh, it's a user manual! What this little sticker is telling us is: "If you want to access the Climate, Air Dist or Vent Temp functions, toggle this little gizmo to the left."
I was...shocked!
Here we have a lovely German engineered vehicle with a suggested retail price of, let's call it, $50,000. I'm sure they spent years designing this vehicle, paying great attention to even the smallest detail.
And then they put it on the market. What happened next we can only guess, but I'm going to assume that folks were having a little difficulty knowing how to adjust the volume and temperature of the air flowing in their car. (I'm assuming that "Air Dist" means Air Distribution, but, hey, who knows!) The fix?
A 10 cent plastic sticker.
Me? I'd be unhappy about that. But, that's just me. Every time I looked down and saw that sticker I'd grumble. I'd probably take it off, which would solve my problem. But, it wouldn't solve the problem for the next person who drove the vehicle, like my wife, for example. She'd go nuts trying to figure out how to turn the damned temperature up!
Designers who design without a deep insight into customer usage are guilty of creating this kind of problem. And we, as customers, are guilty of treating it as if it's acceptable for BMW to junk up my nice car with a crappy little sticker.
The lesson in all of this?
Beemers suck!
Posted by: Kull | November 19, 2007 at 08:10 AM
Proof that there is no such thing as perfection. You are Genius as usual Tom.
Posted by: Linda | November 19, 2007 at 10:19 PM
I see my son-in-law's exuberance has led him to a bit of overstatement. But, hey, maybe he's on to something!
Linda, you're a sweetheart, as always. Thanks for the too kind comment. Perfection is a trap. Clarity of purpose guides us much more solidly than obsession ever will.
Posted by: Tom Guarriello | November 19, 2007 at 10:43 PM
It's 10:30 p.m. and I've just read this post. I was about to head out to the garage and correct this situation immediately. I'm shocked, I feel totally violated.....my car innards posted right here in front of the whole world. How could someone who exemplifies the label anal retentive actually have allowed this situation to exist unaltered for nearly three years? I was shocked and disappointed in myself.
Then, reading through the posts I see the wisdom of the great master that I have studied under now for about 20 years:
"Perfection is a trap. Clarity of purpose guides us much more solidly than obsession ever will."
Yes, that's it. I'm focused, I'm in control, I'm not a perfectionist. It's the outcome that matters, not the process....or is it the journey and not the destination? Hmmmmm this is confusing.
Then it hit me. I will never sleep tonight unless I remove that little sticker.
It's gone now. I will sell this car and buy one without a sticker next month. I will buy one that has excellent design and functionality so I don't have to endure this sticker. Good night!
Posted by: Deb | November 19, 2007 at 11:49 PM
Ha ha...actually I like Beemers (or is it Beamers?) for the most part. I was just being extreme.
Only you would catch such an imperfection Tom!
Posted by: Kull | November 20, 2007 at 01:25 PM
Deb's response here goes into the TrueTalk Blog Hall of Fame! A classic of blogochatter!
One of the things I've learned as a result of hanging around designers for so long, Kull, is the power of observation. Those folks are constantly surveying the scene, looking for "interesting" stuff...kinda like a safety guy looking for stuff that will blow up, trip you or knock you down! Thanks! See ya tomorrow.
Posted by: Tom Guarriello | November 20, 2007 at 02:24 PM
Super post and equally fun set of comments. I would expect nothing less from a TrueTalk conversation.
As I read I thought of Bruce Mau's notion that good design disappears unless there is some sort of failure in the design.
Keep creating...clarity,
Mike
Posted by: Mike Wagner | November 20, 2007 at 07:03 PM
Thanks so much, Mike. It's always good to hear from you. Your citation of Mau's thought is right on: it's only when we see things like this sticker that "design" becomes an issue.
Posted by: Tom Guarriello | November 20, 2007 at 07:55 PM