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

Cleaning the deck is a tedious job.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
A vaseline lip guard comes in a tube which is very convenient to use.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
Tooth Brushes for cleaning the tooth cause a pain in the fingers.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
In a Honda City the knob for opening the petrol tank and the tail gate is given just beside the driver’s seat.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
The buttons of a remote control of many DVD players are confusing.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
Previously mobile phones had antennas which popped out of the design.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
Deodorants mesmerise the senses.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.
The shape of the brush which is used to apply is conical and is not convenient to put over the eyelashes.
Bad Designs
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2009 - 09.20.