ubiquitous

watching a documentary yesterday about the way objects are designed and how we interact with them made me see and think about things differently all the rest of the day. we are surrounded by thousands of things that we interact with each day and all of them has gone through some kind of design process. and i'm always amazed as i go through my day how much bad design there is out there. the handle on the venetian blinds that comes off when i pull it, the cup holder that is too small for my beverage, the perforated opening on a box of macaroni that refuses to open and yet invites me to do so. added up over time it all becomes a little maddening.
and yet there are so many well designed objects that surround us too, but because they do their job well we rarely notice them. while we praise the rock star objects in the design world, many of which will be obsolete inside 3 years, there is a silent army that continues to perform unnoticed. the little guy above is a very simple thing and his job is simple too. and yet it works well and little improvement is made. if you look closely you can see the tabs and insets on each side, like a jigsaw piece. and then you realize that's how these are designed to maximize material and then snapped apart from a strip. it's a little thing, but it's job is hugely important. it keeps things fresh.