The Four Faces of Design

Two years ago, to mark its 60th anniversary, the Museum of Modern Art installed a Fiat 500 as "an icon of automotive history and design."  It has been sold for many years in, they say, 100 countries, so it is of importance in automotive history.  But I have been thinking about this for these two years (and a few other things, of course).  The Toyota Corolla is as ubiquitous, with a shorter history, but will probably not be cited for its aesthetics.  The 500 does show an impressive use of interior space and is affordable.  But there should be more depth in an iconic design, and I think there are four areas that must be maximized to reach that status:   Quality/Reliability, Utility/Ease of Use, Affordability and Appearance.  In the first area, the Fiat is well known to have failed.  And as for aesthetics, that’s always an area of argument, but it looks like a big insect.  The Corolla is superior in all four areas but it’s not a head turner.  Giving due consideration to the four design criteria before purchasing a vehicle, though, the choice between the two is clear.

Audio speakers are always developing; today the goods are very impressive, and not only at the high end.  There have been many over the years which scored well in each design category.  The standouts are amazingly inexpensive for their quality and durability.  The still well-regarded Dynaco A-25 bookshelf size speaker sold new for about $79 apiece, and people did take notice; 600,000 were purchased.  The pair I bought new in the 1960’s still sound superb and look good.   While we’re here in audio land, we can’t forget the “silverface” era of the 1970’s for electronics such as receivers, integrated stereo amplifiers, preamps, and tuners.  Turn the big, heavy detented volume knob of this Kenwood, for example.  Behind the clearly labeled and easy to use front controls, the quality continued in big dependable power supplies and superior phono input sections.  The quality of the lower end of the line in many brands was surprising, and even today these units are available used, working just as well as they ever did.  What followed in the 1980s and 1990s was often overloaded with bells and whistles, difficult to use and ever poorer in quality.

Appliances have similarly become complex and really silly.  If you look hard, you can still find a washing machine or dryer with just three knobs each, all you will need.

Howls of derision will follow, but I’d say the Bell Touch-Tone pushbutton telephone was a fine design.  It was sturdy, easy to repair, had no menus to navigate through, and used numbers, letters and symbols in a clear and not obfuscating way.  It also did not require babying, battery tending or a $1000 replacement every few years.  Just sayin’.  From the same era, the IBM Selectric II typewriter was as far as such a device could go, but it did so perfectly.  Even though you couldn’t repair it yourself, there was rarely a need due to its durability and it was not a throw-away like a computer that can’t use the latest software.  Not portable, we’ll admit, but that meant you probably didn’t have to work and keep sending reports in while on vacation.  Bad typewriter design (just in my experience):  the manual Adler and Remington machines.  If you were fast, the keys jammed up!  You would have very strong fingers after a while, though.

Film cameras ended as an evolutionary dead branch like the typewriter, but wasn’t the Nikon F2 a beauty?  One could take some satisfaction in the skill and knowledge required to use it well, also.  Pricey to buy or repair, it still makes the design grade:  the Land Rover of cameras.