On a recent business trip, I was booked at the W Hotel in SF. Nice decor, but they overdid it to the point that "usability" suffers. Now I used to travel every week, so I know business hotels. Just like in s/w or web design, when a designer tries too hard to be cute or fancy, he/she ended up irritating. Here are some examples from that trip.<p>I could not find the light switches for the desk area for the first hour, because they were all located in an out-of-the-way side. And the switches are small.<p>For a hotel that recommends the guest to be green by recycling, their water lever in the bath / shower did such a poor job that when you set it to shower, half the water actually went down to the bath, instead of to the shower head. Wasted water.<p>The water faucets at the wash basin: one turn clockwise and the other turn counter-clockwise to open the water. Go figure.<p>I can mention a couple more, but the point here is not to rant - I like Starwood hotel chain. The point is to hear your experiences of "un-design" similar to mine.<p>And Merry Christmas, by the way!
Good design isn't what most people think it is. Good design isn't about bells and whistles, fancy doorknobs and thick carpets. It's about making something that works just like you expect it to. Apple and dropbox know this and it's a large part of their success. It just works. All the fanciness in an apple computer or an iphone is there for a reason, there are no equivalents to fancy doorknobs or thick carpets.<p>This is also why Scandinavian design seems to be held in such high regard - it's very simple and works like you expect it to.<p>This wikipedia should be compulsory reading for industrial designers: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_follows_function" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_follows_function</a>
My car's turn signals are frustrating as hell. Normally, when switching lanes, I don't push the signal lever all the way over, so that it locks; I simply push it and hold it, so when I am in the moved-to lane, I just let go, and the signal turns off.<p>However, the designers found a way to trick me, making my attempts at signaling useless. When I push the lever over, the point at which there is significant torque pushed back also turns on a faster-than normal click of the turn signals. However, the signals do not turn on until I push past this; there is a further point where the turn signals actually turn on.<p>My instinct is to push the lever until there is audible and felt feedback, but this doesn't work, since that point does not turn the signals on. Very frustrating.
You should read Norman's "The Design of Everday Things." I bet you'd really enjoy the bit where he discusses hotel doors.<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...</a><p>It's a really great book, and something I would consider a must-read for serious UI designers/developers. While the book was written in the 80s, and talks about things like ring slide projectors, VisiCalc, the original Macs, the ideas about what constitutes good and bad design are salient to this day.
This reminds me of an article I read by Dustin Curtis.<p>The flimsy doorknob and the cheap receipt:<p><a href="http://dustincurtis.com/two_stories.html" rel="nofollow">http://dustincurtis.com/two_stories.html</a><p>I highly recommend that you read it. Basically it is an article about how presentation can make a positive or negative effect. And Dustin Curtis does a phenomenal job with the presentation of his own website. It is a real joy to read and always makes me aspire to the shear elegance of his typographic layout.
While I get your point in general, I disagree with the water faucets. Typically that's how they work - because they turn outwards (so to speak) from the spout in the center.
W isn't supposed to be "good design". What they are is "stylish". They cater to image & brand-conscious people just like Prada or Versace. I assume it's a profitable niche.