The Hidden Design of Everyday Objects

Episode Transcript
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Voice Over (00:00):
This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and
curiosity meet style and design.
Curator of interiors,furnishings and lifestyles.
Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, aninterior designer and a style
enthusiast, along with herserial entrepreneur husband
Scott, idesign Lab is yourultimate design podcast where we
explore the rich and vibrantworld of design and its constant

(00:23):
evolution in style and trends.
Idesign Lab provides industryinsight, discussing the latest
trends, styles and everything inbetween to better help you
style your life, through advicefrom trendsetters, designers,
influencers, innovators,fabricators and manufacturers,
as well as personal stories thatinspire, motivate and excite.

(00:43):
And join us on this elevated,informative and lively journey
into the world of all thingsdesign.

Tiffany Woolley (00:49):
On today's iDesignLab tidbit, we're going
to kind of discuss some of thequirky everyday objects and how
they have their design or whythey have their certain design
Hidden design.

Scott Woolley (01:02):
I call it.

Yeah, hidden design.

There's so much in life that we come across and
we're using and seeing, anddon't even take it for granted,
the design that's behind it, thethings that we use A spoon,
this design that's in a spoon.
I mean, most people don'trealize and think about the fact
that the design that's been putinto making and creating a

(01:26):
spoon, just a cell phone thatwe're carrying, using nonstop.
There's so much design andlet's just forget about what's
inside the phone.
But why are the edges?

rounded.

Why are the corners and so forth rounded?
There's reasons.
The reason why is that if itwas straight, it would be sharp.
Rounded is not sharp Roundedalso would.
If you drop it, it's going tobreak quicker.
Rounded helps from a designstandpoint Soften the blow.
That's correct.

Yeah, I know, I don't think people realize
where design hits us everysingle day and all the different
facets, and sometimes thesedesign characteristics are
somewhat flaws that are actuallypositives, correct.
You know, I think one of theones that most people always
hear about, or I know kids talkabout, is like the ketchup

(02:17):
bottle, the Heinz 57.
I mean, it was some sort of aflaw that that little 57.

No, the flaw is that the way in which the
ketchup was made and theconsistency made it very
difficult to pour out of thebottle.
But Heinz realized that wherethe 57 is, if you tap on the
bottle, where the 57 is on the alittle bit quicker and smoother

(02:47):
and just all these crazy littlethings.
Think of a toothbrush, thedesign behind a toothbrush and
how many different types oftoothbrushes there are.
I know the angled and theiDesign Lab podcast, this
podcast that we do that twice aweek.
We're talking about design insome manner or form and how it's
shaping people's careers, theirlives, what people are doing

(03:11):
for a living in the design, inrelationship to it interior
design in homes, I mean thedesign of cars and so forth but
there's so much that we justtake, you know, we don't think
about.
You know what's the design ofcircuit boards for a computer?
I mean sewing patterns, howclothing is sewn and the

(03:35):
patterns that are used, andthose patterns actually create
detail, you know, and some ofthese things are a lack of.

You're not trying to create a detail, but
those details become inherentbecause of.

Right, but then there's also what I call the
invisible design.
I mean how we're managing ourhouseholds, how we're planning a
meal it's designed, or in themanner of how we do it logistics
.
Logistics in every aspect oflife getting on a plane, the
flights, the times for a planedesign trains I mean itinerary

(04:09):
as a emotional support forothers.
You're designing how you'regoing to emotionally support
someone or approach aconversation.

I mean all of these things.

Meeting notes are basically another form of
design that I call and look atas invisible design, because we
don't think about that as design.
You know, mentoring someone isanother form of design you know
which is another invisibledesign.
You know organizing, you knowourselves and our life

(04:41):
Strategically.

Strategy is a design.

You know, one of the things that, in this
particular podcast, we'd love tohear from people If they could
engage us and tell us what aresome of the invisible designs
that they can think about.
Or what are some of the designsthat are out there that we
don't think about.
You know, send us through ourInstagram or send us right
through this podcast.

(05:06):
You know, we fly back.
We'd love to hear you know whatsome of the thoughts are out
there pertaining to this podcastand design.

Yeah, like did anybody know that on top of a
soda can the little tab has thathole Correct?
And you're supposed to pivot itand it's supposed to hold your
straw.

That's the way the can was designed Right.
Same with a milk carton.

I know I actually think a milk carton's
pretty genius.
Right Same with the milk cotton.
I know I actually think a milkcarton's pretty genius.

Right.
Well, the original milk cartonwas basically called the Gable
Carton, which basically was kindof like a little pyramid where
you opened it up and gave you abeautiful little pouring spout.
Tremendous amount of designthat was put into.

that Kind of reminds me of the construction
of a house too.
It kind of.

Right, but we take it for granted, we don't
think about these things becausethe things that we're touching,
using, feeling, helping usevery day of our life.
But it all comes down to design.

And when we focus on the design, it gives
all of these little things alittle bit more meaning.
You know in the history of howit evolved to its current place.

I'll give you a few more.
A ballpoint pen Tremendous andincredible design.
The cap on most pens have ahole on the top of it, like on a
Bic pen.
So when you take that cap and alot of people put it in their
mouth and chew on it, do youknow why there's a hole in that
cap?
It's because if youaccidentally swallow it, it will
help you to continue to breathe.

(06:29):
Yeah, that's crazy.
And so what about a PEZdispenser?
Every kid remembers PEZs.
I think we've got a lot ofthose still around.
But there's a fun, crazy littledesign that was put into just a
PEZ dispenser.

I know it's actually a complicated little
device Contraction and now theymade it Correct.
Complicated little deviceContraction and how they made it
correct.

But here's another one that's so important.
That's basically saved liveswas the swinging of a hospital
door.
The swinging hospital doorbecame the first place that we
saw doors that basically swungin and out, very much like there
was in a saloon.
But in a hospital it becamevery important to be able to

(07:12):
push people in and out of a roomvery, very quickly, so that
design became extremelyimportant for the operation of
hospitals.

I totally understand that.
And how about the ridges oncoins?

It's just so funny that the government I
guess isn't shocking decided toput ridges around the coin,
because originally coins wereprecious metal and they did that
to make sure that if peoplescraped off a little bit of the
coin, Each coin each time, theywould start to like gain wealth.

Correct, I'm kidding.

Well, another aspect in design that we don't
most people don't realize is inthe early 1900s, when cars came
into play.
A stop sign today is red.
We all think of stop as red,but originally a stop sign was
yellow and the reason why a stopsign was yellow was because
they couldn't design the signbecause the red material or red

(08:08):
paint didn't last.
Yellow paint lasted long on asign in the elements outdoor.
It wasn't until the 1950s thatthey were able to design paint
that would last on a sign aswhere it then changed over.
But even from a standpoint ofdesign, you know, in my travels
years ago being in theNetherlands, I think of two

(08:29):
things that I always rememberwere very unique in design.
Here in the United Stateshighways have white and yellow
lines.
In the Netherlands it glows inthe dark.

That's so funny , so you?

think at night you really see the lines.
You're not really using thelights of the car, but the
blackness of the night basicallyhelps shine the lights.
The other thing that was reallyinterestingly designed in the
Netherlands is garbage.
In the Netherlands garbage goesunderground.
So your garbage you have like agarbage chute.
They designed it so the garbagewould go down underneath and

(09:04):
the garbage would be collectedfrom underneath.

So is there like a tunnel system underneath.

It's like a tunnel system, Like in New York
City, there's the subway.
The subways run parallel inmost cases with all the New York
City streets.
Garbage could have beendesigned in New York that the
garbage went and didn't sit outon the street.
So you know, there's so manyaspects.
You know, but I had theopportunity many years ago to
sit with Steve Jobs on atelevision show that I had done

(09:32):
and talking about design.
Steve Jobs, talked about.

He's a genius at the simplicity of design.

Really Correct, but Steve Jobs wasn't about the
design, which he was brilliantabout the design of the product
and the packaging and how itlooked and how it felt but also,
which was more important, wasthe design and how it worked.
So it's those different aspectsof the design that are so

(09:58):
important.

I know, and even like the famed Tiffany box,
I feel like, or Tiffany blue, Imean, that was such a.
I feel like that is assynonymous with their jewelry or
certain pieces and probablyjust as important.

You know, just that color and that box have
become so iconic box have becomeso iconic, right, but we're
talking about items and thingsin our everyday life that you
never really think about thedesign pertaining to it.
I mean another item that we allhopefully use it once a day at

(10:34):
least toilet paper.
Why was toilet paper made theway toilet paper was?
Why does toilet paper?
Why was toilet paper made theway toilet paper was?
Why does toilet paper havelittle indents and cuts in it to
to pull it apart?
One of the reasons for thoselittle cuts keeps and holds the
toilet paper from rolling out socrazy of the roll those little

(10:56):
perforations that make it easyto pull each piece apart, just
like with paper towels.
Those little perforations thatmake it easy to pull each piece
apart, just like with papertowels.
Those little perforations alsohelp keep the roll together from
a design standpoint.

I know that's super funny.
Another big part of design isergonomic design you know, which
is a big part of the waysomething functions and why and
how it relates to the body.
So even like scissors, you knowscissors that have a better
ergonomic design is going to bemore comfortable in your hand.

(11:31):
Same thing with a chair.
An ergonomic chair isdefinitely going to support your
back.
It it has a function to thedesign.

Right, but there's so many different things
.
Starbucks we all know Starbucksfor creating great coffee and
starting basically a trend in awhole category of retail
business and how we you know inour morning getting our morning
coffee or afternoon coffee.
But a lot of people don't thinkabout was they actually changed
the design of cups?
Cups were pretty much just likewe all have at home.
They were cylinders.
They made it in a shape so itwould go in a cup holder.

(12:08):
It wouldn't fall through thecup holder, which basically
became then the cup that wasused in sporting events where in
theaters, with cup holders.
So it was the change in designof a cup to make our life a
little bit easier.
But we take it for granted, wedon't think about it.
It's an invisible design that'saffected our lives in many ways

(12:32):
.
Another one is just thekeyboard.
The keyboard for a computerbasically emulated the keyboard
for a typewriter.
The keyboard for a typewriterwas designed in such a way
because you wonder why are thealphabet positioned all over the
place?
Why wasn't it just positioned?
a little bit easier A, b, c, d,so it would be quicker to find

(12:54):
it's so true.
But when it was designed andcreated, they created it and
designed it because theyrealized that the keyboard
someone who could type veryquickly if they typed too quick,
it bogged down the typewriter.
So the keyboard was designed insuch a way in a strategy, in a
design that would slow down theamount of how you click that

(13:18):
typewriter so quickly, so itwouldn't jam.
And then that followed suitinto the computer age.

I love that.
So it's a fun tidbit today toget everybody's mind thinking of
the many ways design affectsour lives and hopefully we can
be a little interactive.
So we do want to hear back fromyou.

We'd love to hear from anyone Tell us different
other designs they're hiddendesigns.
Scissors is there's?
We've all picked up a pair ofscissors, where one scissors so
easy to cut with and the nextone might be.
This is a little bit.
It's all about ergonomics, thedesign of ergonomics, and how it
we hold it and how it feels andhow comfortable it is and how

(13:59):
easy it is.

Yeah, the support.

Correct, yeah, so that's all a little kind of
what Tiffany calls our tidbitfor this particular podcast.
We look forward for you guys tolisten to us on the next one.

Voice Over (14:12):
And answer back.
Idesign Labs Podcast is an SWGroup production in association
with the Five Star and TWInteriors.
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