in today’s new york times magazine rob walker talks about the new fire extinguisher on sale at the home depot - the home hero - which replaces our old extinguishers with something more ‘designer.’ presumably the aesthetic appeals to design-conscious consumers who will be more likely to keep it at hand - although there is no evidence of this. recently it seems like making anything out of white plastic - with rounded edges - means ‘design.’ i totally disagree. there is a lot of design in the old extinguisher, namely that it could be seen, understood and used in a pinch. it’s a universal symbol. and the new extinguisher is not good design - it’s just bland. lately, it seems like design means the type of simplicity that obfuscates the function of an object to make it seem ‘better’ than the competition. i guess it all started with the walkman2.0, a blander version of the original. the original portable music player, the original fire extinguisher, have a unique design language. but how good will their ‘design’ be when everything looks the same?
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. Leo is a artist, inventor and all around practical person in the Tangible Media Group at the Media Lab. He has a background in sculpture, architecture and industrial design as well as an MS from the Media Lab spent working on the kitchen of the future. He is on a search for truth.
