UMO - 5th Boycott Bad Design Contest'09

How many times a day you've felt some things could just be "slightly" better than they are now?

It may be your wash-basin tap, that tries hard to impersonate gym equipment by being hard and clumsy when you are all sleepy in morning, or it could be your phone bill that poses more intellectual challenge than toughest of the cryptic-crosswords.

We live in a world that is a consequence of conscious or unconscious design decisions made by the manufacturers or designers of the various systems. Most of times these decisions are resultant of hasty time-lines, compromise on quality or just plain ignorance about 'you'- the one who is going to use them.

The UMO-Boycott Bad-Design Contest'09 was organized with the view of calling attention to the bad design in everyday things with the theme : So tweet earth - rethink, refresh and recycle ideas for a sustainable world.

Boycott Bad-Design Contest'09 Winners

The following ten entries were chosen as the best submissions ( Rs. 3000/- each ) for the "Boycott Bad-Design Contest'09"

Team-UMO duly acknowledges it's gratitude towards all the participants.

So tweet the Earth

Visit World Usability Day Home Home

'ek chidiya, anek chidiyaN; dana chugne baith gayee thi .....' The song conjures up childhood imagery, memories of an entire generation that was still lucky to learn the lessons of life from Mother Nature. For all others who couldn't strike a chord yet, 'ek chidiya, anek chidiyaN' translates to 'a lovely bird and many such lovely birds....'. Those are the opening lines of a beautifully animated song that encouraged harmony and unity in diversity, the mottos that best describe India, through a delightful cameo from Nature.

Most of us used to take delight in watching birds paying us a visit in our very own habitats during our childhood, when today’s cities were still attractive enough for nature to cast its beautiful spell with changing seasons, colors, flowers and more. However, all such pleasures of nature are strangers to our cities now. It’s something that we have done ourselves, still doing, depriving our younger generations of all such pleasure.

The greater irony is, we seek solace in the virtual worlds. Our bird song comes from MP3s, our greenery in screensavers. And tweet on the web mimicking nature. As we use these products, as we live a synthetic life, we need to think, rethink how our life is affecting our world, our Nature. As creative people, it’s time we thought about how our creations, the products and services we create and we use impact our world.

Boycott Bad-Design Contest'09 Entries Preview

Until and unless you open the fridge you would not know its freezing point.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
Soft drinks are also available in tins. The design of this tin does not allow the user to use it conveniently as the lid always tends to come into the mouth and also there is a lot of drink wasted as the opening is not exactly to one corner.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
The process of changing the tyre of a car when it is flat is tedious. One does not know where to target the jack for lifting it up.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
Cameras are designed for the right handers only. The position of the click button is placed on the right.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
One definitely tends to pull the lever provided under the seat to adjust it according to ones comfort.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
The cup holder provision in the car is an added advantage and is very convenient for the user.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
Considering the Yamaha-FZ bike, it is provided with a well powered electric auto start which gives comfort to the rider about not having to start the engine with a kick-rod.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.
In addition to using cell phone as just a phone, people use it to know what time it is. The cell phone has the time on the display.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.16.