There are so many products out there that try to be too many things at once... and fail. They try to be too modular and end up being clunky and unusable because of their added girth, or they become so integrated and convoluted that the only people able to understand how to use it are the individuals who designed it.
Admittedly, it is much easier for me to come up with all of the products that I hate or things that I don't feel like they have the user in mind that when someone tells me to come up with a product with an experience that I love, I struggle.
The best products in my opinion, offer users features that they never knew that they needed, and now can't live without: providing an experience that becomes the new standard.
As a writer, I love to use plain marble composition notebooks and black pens, because it gives my writing space and creativity a sense of control so that I can go wherever I want to with my writing. A sense of security. Marble composition notebooks can be pretty typical, but black pens can vary wildly, but the best pens that I've used have provided me with features that I never knew that I needed, and have set the new standard for me and my moderately priced writing implements (< $10).
Deciding to treat myself before a conference, I bought a Uni-ball pen because it was squishy and I thought it would make me look more "professional." It also had some interesting and useful features such as the ink was meant for writing checks because it sticks to the paper and can't be washed away easily. This became my favorite pen for reasons other than I had originally purchased it: the ink flowed easily, it didn't bleed through pages, and because my hand was comfortable and the pen worked without effort or thought, I was able to be my most creative in my writing assignments. Using other pens of different materials, of different tip thicknesses, different weight balance, different ink, different storage (click, twist, or cap), hasn't quite measured up, and if I were Uni-Ball, I would take this as a walloping success.
You're probably thinking: "Wow, out of all of the products in the world, she chose to describe a pen" but how many things just work all the time, and surprise you as to their positive features. As much as I love my macbook, THAT doesn't even do that for me (we're having some trust issues after it decided to completely fail last year). There are a lot of products and websites that I think have a lot of promise, but because of the lack of clarity, agency, or other things for the user, they haven't exactly taken my breath away.
But the pen represents so much more about simplicity. The best things are simple. Even if they are complex, using products should be simple. Oversimplifying products doesn't necessarily make using them simple (taking away buttons, doesn't necessarily make it clear how one uses it). But in the end it isn't about all of the bells and whistles: it's like sound design in the theatre: if you notice it, it wasn't done very well, if it works, it ultimately disappears.
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