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

Joining social gatherings, marriages and religious celebrations is an inevitable part of any society.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
A fan with conventional design; the blades rotate, it projects air right downwards. It doesn't circulate the air all round the room.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
The product packaging has been redesigned from the old design which was just a plain cylinder that served very well for a long time.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
Polythene Bags... There is a tremendous increase in the usage of polythene bags in today’s world.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
The beds in hospitals are provided with an adjustment devices.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
Tin cans are now used to pack fizzy drinks and many other liquids. Tin Cans never decompose and it takes more than 100 years to decay.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
The most common problem that every Indian housewife faces is, “How much gas is left in the Domestic Gas Cylinder?”
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.
CDs and Floppies are absolute up to date technology that took the place of magnetic tapes.
Bad Designs
Read More
2009 - 09.15.