Core77

Let me ask you something: How long do you keep your eyes closed in the shower?

[Design consultancy Continuum] tested shower heads for Moen Inc. and found something strange. When asked how much users keep their eyes closed while showering, respondents estimated as low as 10 percent. Continuum built a "test shower" and observed that figure to be as high as 80 percent. The users were truthful, but didn't know themselves.

This is the latest bit of industrial designer's "cocktail party chatter," as I like to call it; we've all got those anecdotes particular to ID'ers that cause your graphic designer friends' eyes to glaze over while the product people lean closer to hear. It's from an Inside Product Design & Development article called "Collaborative product design meets customer demands," which lists opinions and findings by several design consultancies and covers things like "non-conscious behaviors," "feature creep" and "the danger of internal design groups."

It also attributes the famous "A camel is a horse designed by committee" quote. Before we spill it, anyone know who came up with this gem? Bueller, anyone?

The answer is Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the original Mini, and one of the few ID'ers to actually gain Knighthood because his product kicked so much ass.

Hit the link below to check out the rest of the article.

via mass high tech