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Product Design: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
Form Follows Function
Product designers shape everyday things, from chairs to phones. A famous rule, “form follows function”, says an object’s shape should come from what it does.
Key fact
Architect Louis Sullivan coined “form follows function” in 1896.
Designing for Hands
Ergonomics designs things around the human body. The OXO Good Grips peeler, from 1990, had a soft, fat handle inspired by a founder’s wife with arthritis.
Key fact
A tool that’s easy for some hands is often easier for everyone.
The Coke Bottle
In 1915, Coca-Cola asked for a bottle people could recognise by touch in the dark, or even when broken. The curvy contour bottle became a design icon.
Key fact
Its shape was inspired by a drawing of a cacao pod.
Less, but Better
German designer Dieter Rams made calm, simple radios and shavers for Braun. His motto was “less, but better”, and his ten rules for good design still guide designers.
Key fact
Rams’s work inspired Apple’s designs.
Flat-Pack Furniture
In 1956, an IKEA designer took the legs off a table to fit it in a car. The idea stuck: furniture shipped flat and assembled at home is cheaper to store and move.
Key fact
Flat packs fit far more furniture into each lorry.
Design for Everyone
Universal design makes things usable by as many people as possible. Pavement ramps built for wheelchairs also help people with prams, bikes and suitcases.
Key fact
This is called the “curb-cut effect”.
Built to Last
Sustainable design plans for a product’s whole life: repair, reuse and recycling. Good design can last: LEGO bricks from 1958 still click with today’s.
Key fact
The EU now has “right to repair” rules for some products.
Fun facts
Door handles that make you pull when you should push are nicknamed “Norman doors”, after design writer Don Norman.
Most everyday tools are designed for right-handers, which is why many left-handers struggle with scissors and can openers.
The contour bottle became so recognisable that its shape was registered as a trademark in 1960.
Dieter Rams designed a shelving system in 1960 that is still being made today.
IKEA names follow a system: sofas often get Swedish place names, and rugs Danish ones.
One of the earliest typewriters, around 1808, was built so a blind countess could write letters.
The Monobloc plastic chair is thought to be one of the most common chairs on Earth.
Story: Play Well
Play Well
1930s Denmark. Carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen makes wooden toys. He names his company LEGO, from the Danish “leg godt”: play well.
In 1958 his son patents a plastic brick with tubes inside, so bricks grip each other firmly but still pull apart.
Two years later, a fire destroyed the company’s wooden toy store. It decided to make only plastic bricks from then on.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
“Form follows function” means shape should come from purpose.
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True. What it does comes first.
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Question 2 of 10
Ergonomics designs things around the body.
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True. Grips, heights, reach and more.
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Question 3 of 10
The Coke bottle was designed to be known by touch.
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True. Even in the dark.
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Question 4 of 10
Dieter Rams designed for the company Braun.
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True. For about 40 years.
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Question 5 of 10
Flat-pack furniture is cheaper to transport.
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True. More fits in each load.
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Question 6 of 10
Designs for disabled people often help everyone.
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True. It’s called the curb-cut effect.
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Question 7 of 10
The EU has right-to-repair rules for some products.
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True. To help things last.
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Question 8 of 10
Product design only covers expensive luxury goods.
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False. It covers everyday things.
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Question 9 of 10
Ergonomic handles are made as thin as possible.
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False. Easy grips are often thicker.
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Question 10 of 10
The contour bottle was designed in 2000.
Show the answer
False. In 1915.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Product Design has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- Vitsœ — Dieter Rams: ten principles for good design
- Design Museum London — Product design collection
- The Coca-Cola Company — History of the contour bottle
- IKEA — The story of flat packs
- The LEGO Group — The LEGO brick patent (1958)
- Design Museum — Thonet No. 14; Anglepoise
- Stanford d.school — Design thinking
- Deceptive Design (Harry Brignull)
