IH01-FeneliaKosasih

From IEOR 170 Spring 2007

Good Design:

Papermate Mechanical Pencil

The mechanical pencil on the top in the figure below is my chosen good design. When compared with a conventional pencil (the pencil at the bottom), the papermate mechanical pencil provides several advantages.

The conventional mechanical pencil has a tiny eraser underneath a cap. For a person who often makes an error while writing, he/she has to remove the cap in order to use the eraser underneath. This will often lead to the cap being lost, which often happens to me. In addition, often in the middle of writing, I will realize that I run out of lead and need to refill it. This is often very frustrating when it happens in the middle of time-crunching exams. In the case when I have to refill the lead, I will have to take out the cap, and then the eraser, and then insert the lead. Often times, I fumble and lose either the eraser and the cap. Both cap and eraser are easily lost because they are small. If they fall on the ground, they are often hard to find. Also, since the eraser is small, it often run out after a few use, and sometimes, I use it to the point that they are level with the eraser holder. At this point, it will be hard to remove the eraser in order to insert the lead. When i get to this stage, I either have to remove the lead from the front end of the pencil or pry out the eraser with a needle and throw it away. Often always, I have already lost the cap of the pencil, and since I have to throw away the eraser as well, I am often left with no caps or eraser to keep the pencil leads within the pencil.

The papermate mechanical pencil is designed to get around this problem. Firstly, it can hold bigger erasers, one that has lasted me more than 10 months and there is still more than 3/4 of it left. The eraser is held within the cap of the pencil itself, and the length of the eraser can be adjusted by turning the top of the cap. The eraser can be used directly without the need of removing the cap first like it is in the case of a conventional mechanical pencil. In addition, when leads need to be refilled, the whole cap can be removed without the need to remove the eraser first. The cap itself is also pretty big such that it's remains visible even when it falls on the ground. This minimizes the chance of losing the cap.

Bad Design:

The bad design that I would like to bring up is a coffee mug above that belongs to my roommate. I asked her once why she stopped using the mug, and she commented, "It's really hard to wash."

The coffee mug has a rubber lid that fits into the cup and can be turned to secure the lid. The purpose is to keep the drinks inside warm. With the lid in this position, it provides holes to drink out of. It is obvious that when designing, the designer only focused on how to keep the drinks warm and ways to drink out of the mug with the lid still attached to the cap. The designer fail to consider the trouble it comes to cleaning the mug.

The lid-support that lines the inner side of the mug, whose purpose is to hold the lid in place, has made it difficult to reach the bottom side beneath the support due to its narrow angle. As a result, it is often hard to clean the bottom side of the support. Hence, it is often stained and sticky in those area.

A better design:

The design of most travel mugs can serve as a better alternative design to this coffee mug. The surface of the mug is smooth (with no parts sticking out or hard to reach corners)and allows easy cleaning. The stainless steel surface also helps to keep the drink warm. We can also drink out of it by pushing back the lid on the cover.