IH01-ReyDoctora

From IEOR 170 Spring 2007

Good Designs and Bad Designs in Our Everyday Lives

Good Design: City of Berkeley Trash Receptacle Bins

I was walking home from class one day when I noticed that several homes on Dana Street had these City of Berkeley trash receptacles placed out on the sidewalk. I approached one of these receptacles and noticed how cleverly designed they were.

These trash receptacles exemplify good design for several reasons:

1) Despite their large sizes, they are very mobile. The large wheels on the bottom of each receptacle make it easy to move the trash bin despite the amount of garbage placed into the receptacle.

2) There is a foot pedestal on the bottom of the receptacle to allow a user to easily tilt the trash bin onto its wheels. The bin can only be tilted one way and the placement of the pedestal makes it very apparent that it can only be tilted backwards.

3) Once the bin is tilted onto its wheels, the bin’s design makes it clear that pushing the bin follows. It is also very easy to push while tilted.

4) The design of the bin lid makes it clear which side of the lid is to be lifted upwards.

Ergonomically speaking, the height of the bin is also neither too tall high nor too low (approximately 5’ high). The average person, therefore, would have an easy time transporting the bin out onto the street come garbage collection time and also when bringing it back in once the trash has been collected.

Bad Design: Desk Lamp

I think my desk lamp is badly designed. The lamp is roughly divided into three segments: the top segment (holding the light bulb), a middle segment, and a bottom segment which connects to the base. Connecting subsequent segments (for example, the top and middle segments, and the middle and bottom segments) is a circular knob that you twist to tighten or loosen.

Lamp originally…

Lamp a while later…

Circular knob

The problem with my lamp is that, over time, the knob connecting the middle and bottom segments has slowly warn out and no longer tightens to hold the middle section in place. What eventually happens is that the upper portion of the lamp slowly heaves over, as illustrated in the above middle picture. This has often occurred to me while I was doing my homework and the result is irritation and frustration over not having proper amounts of lighting.

I propose the following lamp design instead:

Rather than have a knob connecting the middle and bottom segments, these segments should be replaced entirely by one continuous metal frame. This can be adjusted at the base with a small lever to tighten or loosen the frame up or down. At the top of the frame, a circular knob can remain to adjust the lighting angle. This design will prevent the unwanted “topping over” that my lamp currently exhibits and is also very straightforward to use.