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Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

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Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#431

Post by tim333 »

dri_ft wrote: post #401
mdip wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree! The funny thing is the first thing I thought of was an old microwave I owned with a similar setup mainly because the microwave I own, today, is so awful [0]. I have a GE combination convection oven/microwave and it was clearly designed by someone who had their first experience with LSD that day. Every function requires a different, magic, set of key combinations to make it work. Want to set a timer?…

Holy christ. Horrifying. I can't understand how microwaves are all so bad. Where are the good ones? Isn't it less work to make a simpler (better) interface than the baroque ones we end up with?

Trad two knob microwaves are still available and usually the cheapest eg http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Browse?s=Pr...

so I blame consumers for buying the ones with the silly buttons.

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#432

Post by ismail-khan »

dri_ft wrote: post #401
mdip wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree! The funny thing is the first thing I thought of was an old microwave I owned with a similar setup mainly because the microwave I own, today, is so awful [0]. I have a GE combination convection oven/microwave and it was clearly designed by someone who had their first experience with LSD that day. Every function requires a different, magic, set of key combinations to make it work. Want to set a timer?…

Holy christ. Horrifying. I can't understand how microwaves are all so bad. Where are the good ones? Isn't it less work to make a simpler (better) interface than the baroque ones we end up with?

The buyer is usually not the end user.

For example, a landlord is biased towards purchasing appliances that looks complex so they can show off all the extra "features" to clients.

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#434

Post by QuarterReptile »

artimaeis wrote: post #78

Seiko 5 automatic watch - Simple, timeless, affordable. It's just a great watch and it always will be. rOtring 600 mechanical pencil - the feel of this pencil is unlike any other writing implement I've found. It's a legend. My new goal is to find a fountain pen that I can enjoy as much as I enjoy this. Though I fear that will be a notably more expensive purchase. Yamaha Custom Series Bb trumpet - before becoming a de…

On the pencil front, I recommend checking out kuru toga pencils. They rotate the lead slightly with every cycle of applied pressure and release, so you don't get the lead worn down until you're writing at a shallow angle with a much larger effective cross section of lead.

On the fountain pen side, just be aware that if you work in an office environment, you'll have to deal with low quality paper that's incompatible with fountain pens. In that way paper is like fruit and vegetables: there's an enormous amount of variation in quality, and it's not terribly expensive to get something really good, but as a country the US has decided it's a commodity, so we just use the lowest quality white rectangles money can buy.

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#436

Post by lowmagnet »

artimaeis wrote: post #78

Seiko 5 automatic watch - Simple, timeless, affordable. It's just a great watch and it always will be. rOtring 600 mechanical pencil - the feel of this pencil is unlike any other writing implement I've found. It's a legend. My new goal is to find a fountain pen that I can enjoy as much as I enjoy this. Though I fear that will be a notably more expensive purchase. Yamaha Custom Series Bb trumpet - before becoming a de…

Rotring's 600 pen sits right next to my 600 pencil in my bag. None better to hold a high quality Schmidt replacement ball point cartridge.

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#437

Post by roryisok »

i_don_t_know wrote: post #317

The ancient microwave in my first apartment. It had two knobs: one for time, one for power. It's immediately obvious how to cook something for how long, how to add more time, etc. All other microwaves that I've used I had to have someone explain to me what buttons to press in what order to do even the simplest things. And I've never seen anyone use all of those fancy buttons.

when I moved into my current house I bought a brand new microwave for exactly this reason. Two knobs - how long, how hot. anything else is a waste of time.

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#438

Post by phugoid »

kalleboo wrote: post #174

* Chopsticks. One-handed eating is just convenient. * Palm Vx. At the time this thing has fantastic functionality (all that freeware!), the OS had great charm, and I still think it looks really handsome. * Sony Ericsson w580. One of the last really small cell phones before huge screens took over. And the slide mechanism was really satisfying - the ultimate fidget

I second chopsticks.

Good design doesn't have to be user-friendly. I like how chopsticks can be implemented out of almost any material, are dead-simple, and are "opinionated." They impose severe constraints on what/how you cook, and help create food culture.

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#439

Post by Lordarminius »

bigiain wrote: post #212
trelliscoded wrote: post #70

Oxo hand tools. Hermin Miller Aerons. My Olympus skyhawk. Literally the only piece of hardware that's going to outlive me. The FN P90 and the 57 pistol. The flight deck on the Sukhoi SU-34 and the Boeing 787. Basically, anything where the design department went out and asked the customer what their biggest complaints were, then sat down to eliminate them in the design phase.

I've got a great book about the Boeing 747, it talks about how the design department went out and found out what the physics said, took that back to what was practical and designed "the best" compromise available at the time - but fundamentally based on physics. And thanks to them, 50 years later airport runway lengths and air traffic control approach speeds and 37,000 foot cruise altitudes and a whole bunch of other…

do you mind sharing the name of the book?

Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?

#440

Post by cr1895 »

angry-hacker wrote: post #361
zeptomu wrote: post #305

Moka pots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot It is simple and just works.

What if you have a gas stove? :) But I agree, it's a good product and design. Never read wiki, I always thought it comes from Spain, not Italy.

It was invented in the 1930s. Did electric stoves even exist then?
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