I keep making this mistake, and I admit it’s silly, but I feel like it could be improved.

The buttons to reply to an email look very similar to the button that takes you from looking at an email back to your inbox. An escape button, so to speak.

To compound this effect, it’s sitting left beside the other buttons that relate specifically to the email itself, which creates a sort of proximity association when there shouldn’t be. Ideally, those buttons should be brought down next to the middle row – right side reply button to create a sort of email-specific functions dock. It’s the same space and size and everything, just placement would help things.

So yes, there are two other reply buttons and I should know this, but it still trips me up every now and then.

So, what they’re saying is “We have so many things, you need to be a professional climber just to use them all.” which, I can see how the board might see this and think “Yeah, that really represents us and our new products.” but as a common person I might think “What rubbish. I want an easy to use kitchen, I’m not an acrobat.”

The ad itself is well done and original and creative and all that, but it isn’t very good. It expresses the goal, yes, but I would question under what light it shows them.

Do those images inspire any sort of lust for those products? Do you look at that and think “Yeah, sign me up for that!”

If it were my ad, I might have a normal kitchen like the one above and every time he goes to use something he can choose to push a button in front of it and it would revolve around into the counter. So the microwave might flip around to be the coffee maker, the stove might flip into a dishwasher and the drawers might have varying contents in the same drawer. The message here would be “Even though there’s a lot of stuff in your kitchen (that we’ll sell you) it’s all easily at your fingertips.” with emphasis on the two goals: the amount of new appliances offered, and the promise that even with more, it’ll still be comfortable and easy to maintain.

I feel like the current ad neglects that last point. They want to showcase the variety in it’s absurdity, but that doesn’t show the consumer how they want it in reality.

Of course, the minimalist in me screams when things are advertising for more stuff, but if you’re going to try and sell it, at least do it properly.

“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.”

Via

I know, I know, I promised when I started Acrylo that I would be more positive with it; showcasing good design instead of just ripping on the ever-abundant bad. This chair actually makes me angry. Like, physically, I want to hurt whoever thought this was a good idea.

Sorry, that’s a wee bit too harsh. I’m not at all a violent person. Still. It’s just. Ugh.

The Bad

Okay, so. It comes in Birch plywood, Walnut or “dark matt [sic] varnish” and weighs a solid 160 kgs (~350 lbs) which, on the positive side, does effectively prevent theft. Though honestly, I’m not sure who would want to steal this beast.

Dimensionally, I’ve been to skateparks with smaller half pipes. The spec sheet has “186,5 x 115,5 x H:103cm” and in copying that, I just noticed the site is table based. Entirely unrelated to the chair itself, that’s just poor web design.

Space. I laughed at the unofficial description:

In this modern era, the rat race has made people so busy that they don’t even have time for themselves. For everybody is searching for peace and stability in their lives. To have a fresh and healthy body, we need proper place and time for meditation and relaxation. Unfortunately, in this competitive world sparing time from your hectic schedule is not an easy task. Addressing the issue, Swiss designer Luckily Claudio D’amore has created a comfy chair called “Kosha” that looks like a wooden cave providing a secluded place for relaxation.

– Designbuzz

It’s so ironic. The statement is saying that everybody is searching for peace and this chair will help you find it. Really! Sign me up.

If your life has degraded so far that you truly believe that, you need more than a new chair.

I do believe we need a meditative space. Truly, I agree with the statement itself. I also believe (because I do it every day) that this space can be completely free. Which brings me to it’s next flaw:

It’s $41 500. Just think about that number. Do you know what else you can buy for the same price? a 2010 Acura TL SH-AWD A-spec. Or, if you want something bigger, how about a 2007 BMW 4.8i X5? And the chair doesn’t have financing options. You could buy an older Corvette or Lotus or a Nissan 370z. Like. Seriously. You’re buying a chaise lounge. You could buy ten Eames Lounges or Corbu LC4s (five of each is still one in every colour). You could buy a 370z AND have money left over for both an Eames and a LC4.

The Solution

I mentioned it in the last statement. If you have that much in your reading chair budget, there are lots of great alternatives. If you just need to throw away cash, buy either of the chairs mentioned above and donate it to me, I’ll gladly accept it as repayment for my saving you from the worst purchase in your life.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, since the people who would like this chair are not the people reading this column, but the examples are abundant. It’s not specifically this chair, it’s the philosophy. So often we can achieve the same function with less stuff, and that’s good design. Call it minimalism, call it whatever, but the fact is, the above is an example of design gluttony. Excessivism. Unnecessarism. I’m not sure if those are real things already or not. If not, I’m coining them.

Don’t be wasteful. This is a waste. Of money, of resources, of time spent constructing it, of the ships burdened by the sheer size and mass of it. It might be a real problem, but I think it’s one of culture and this certainly doesn’t solve it. If anything, it probably contributes to it.

It’s harder to be good than original. This is original, it is not good.

Be good.

Via a Core77 tweet about Designbuzz, the latter of which I’ve lost a lot of respect for.

So wait, hang on. The new Ford Fiesta is a Golf with an Aston nose?

I’ve said it before. Stay classy, Ford.

Epic Fail (FR) from DVV / LES AP on Vimeo.

Absolutely brilliant. Love that soundtrack, the casting, everything. Spot on.

My initial reactions to the above photo were like, “Alright, cool. Sweeping clean lines, that’s sharp. Art deco is pretty sweet and if anybody could pull it off it would be Cadillac.”

Then I saw the side.

I mean, art deco cars were long. They were low and swoopy and teardropped to the point of structural limits but seriously, even by Cadillac’s standard of boat building this thing seems brobdingnagian* – and untimely enough, in a world where there simply isn’t enough parking anywhere.

So, I love the style, don’t get me wrong, I just think they should make it a convertible coupe on the existing XLR / Corvette chassis is all.

More photos via Top Gear.

* An awesome sounding word meaning enormous or huge. – The Oatmeal

Just wait a few months, come on.

I’ve been playing Dirt 3 casually over the past couple of weeks and in the end I have a verdict: Wait until it’s in the $15 bin.

I loved Dirt, I waited patiently for Dirt 2 and after thoroughly enjoy both I could only hope Dirt 3 was everything it promised. The teaser trailers came out and I was totally on board. Gymkhana was added, and also snow courses (which I have long wanted) as well as more locations and cars. Sounded great.

You know, it isn’t a bad game. They didn’t ruin Dirt or anything, but it feels like a reskin of Dirt 2. They could have added all of the new game as a DLC to Dirt 2 and sold it for $10-20. I mean, what, they added some new tracks and a few new cars and gymkhana which is really just another track but completely open. It doesn’t really deserve a whole new game, I feel, and certainly not worth $50.

Also, the new D3 DLC came out the other day so they keep asking me to pay more for that. I don’t think so. I don’t even think what I paid for the game was worth it, charging for a small DLC is just insulting.

Gymkhana, for all the coolness that it is in real life is actually pretty lame in the game. Sorry.

Moral of the story: Find a friend who bought it and play it for the afternoon at his / her house. Or! Buy Dirt 2 since it’s dirt cheap (no pun intended) now. You aren’t missing much.

Or! Steam is all sale happy right now. Go buy Fallout New Vegas for $15. That’s crazy value for your money; it’ll keep you occupied for weeks.

I’m not hating, really. I’m not a smug person. I just so rarely get to be smug since I’m usually reading Core77 and finding new things because they’re awesome.

Remember when I posted about the Goggle desk? Remember when I had it spelled Goggle and not Google? Remember when I didn’t try to make up inspirations and plays on words?

Yes.

Sorry Core77, I still love you! Just stop making stuff up when you’re slightly dyslexic.