The Design of Everyday Objects

My grandma taught me how to knit when I was ten, and since then knitting needles have always been an object that have held importance for me. While there is not a specific pair of needles that has a deep meaning, or a specific sentimental value, knitting needles are always something that I have with me. To me they represent the possibility of making new objects, and spending time doing something that I find relaxing and enjoyable. Unlike the yarn that I knit with, they can be used almost infinitely to make hundreds of different objects. As I have continued with knitting I have developed preferences for using bamboo needles instead of plastic or metal because of they are light and the yarn moves over them smoothly. The needles themselves are tools that are used to produce objects, it would seem that their importance may be secondary to the objects that they produce. However, I find that I am more interested in the process of knitting than the objects I produce. In fact I usually end up giving my knitting to friends and family members.  But using a specific set of needles can remind me of past projects that I had made with them and also remind me what I was thinking about, watching or listening to while working on that project. and why I was working on it. Learning to knit is about training muscle memory in your hands to perform the sequence of actions required to make a stitch. Once you have learned how to knit, you no longer have to think about knitting, because your hands do the work. But having a familiar set of tools helps me to increase that memory. While knitting needles are fairly universal from pair to pair, it seems that the more I use a specific set the more meaning I place in each pair. Knitting needles are relatively inexpensive and similar from pair to pair. However, each time I use a set it is imbued with unique meaning about past objects I have used them to create and possibilities  to create future objects.

A Poorly Designed Object

Water faucets with two handles, one that changes the controls the hot water and one that controls the cold water are difficult to use. It is hard to control the temperature of the water because there is no way of knowing how how far you have turned the handle corresponds to the temperature and pressure of the water. There is no immediate feedback to tell you the temperature of the water because it changes as it flows longer, so you are often left waiting for the water to heat up, and wasting water in the meantime. But then the water will quickly get too hot. I often try to turn on both the cold and warm handles to obtain a moderate temperature of water, but then if I have both handles on I get confused about which handle I need to turn to stop the water. This is especially confusing if the handles turn 360 degrees and I cannot remember which way to turn them to turn it off. One single handle that controls both the cool water and the hot water is much more intuitive because there is a visual representation of what the temperature of the water is based on how far the handle is turned.

A Well Designed Object

Scissors are example of a generally well designed everyday object. Usually one end is plastic to differentiate it from the sharp end used for cutting things. The plastic ends have holes that indicate that you should put your fingers to grip the scissors, and they can only move apart in one way. The way that you move scissors corresponds directly with how you cut something, like a piece of paper or fabric. Furthermore, when you hold scissors with the right end, it is most natural to hold them so that the blade points away from you and you are at less of a risk of cutting yourself. When you are not using the scissors the blades are together and are meant to stay together so that they will not accidentally cut you.