Toby Dayton made a point today worth mentioning in his Diggings blog about good design, mostly about his earlier post about Craig’s List, being so poorly designed, and on purpose. I absolutely LOVE good design.

That got me to thinking….

Back in 1990, I was involved with another startup, called Insignia Systems. Insignia’s product back then was called the Impulse Sign System. This was pre-computer signage. Impulse was a typewriter-sized device that made promotional and display-type signs for independent retailers. We sold Impulse to Ma-and-Pa retailers across the USA and got pretty familiar with their concerns, issues and problems.

Back then, WalMart was really just beginning to branch out; and local, small town retailers were trying to figure out how to compete with the retail gorilla from Bentonville.  For a lot of local retailers, WalMart was a very real threat.  Think back to what happened…small gift stores in small towns, gone.  Small sporting goods stores, gone.  Hardware stores, gone.  Clothing stores, gone.  But all hail, the lower prices of WalMart, never mind the longer drive to the nearest one.  Some say that Wal Mart had a lot to do with the sad truths about small town America today.

Here is another un-intended consequence.  Used to be, the local small town retailer, whether a clothing store, gift shop, furniture store, or whatever, was owned by someone with real passion for their store and their products. They lived, breathed and slept clothes, gifts or furniture.  They knew their stuff.

What they had was DESIGN sense.  Sure, more of their stuff was made in America, but the distinguishing ingredient was the inherent design and quality sense of the store owner.  That is what you were buying. You went to the gift shop and got a wedding gift, chances were very good, no matter the price point, that it was of good quality and had been designed well.  If it wasn’t, the passionate store owner would not buy it to even show his or her customers.   So, all of us got used to having quality items in our personal and work spaces,naturally, even if we had zero talent or awareness.
Now, that store owner is gone, replaced by God-knows-who, who loves buying inventory on price, rather than on quality or design. Sure, some of the items carried by the Big Box retailers are well-designed, but these items are higher priced and a lot of ‘normal’ people are left buying Chinese-y, poorly designed and ill conceived products, in the wrong color or size.   But who cares?… we got it cheap.

We take those products home and surround ourselves with this “crapola.”  It just does not look quite right.  It is the wrong color.  Or size, or feel.  And it just does not make for a pleasant, eye pleasing environment.  Most of us don’t know this, it all looks “ok.”  My point is that we all do sense good design which is , Toby’s point, I think.  We sense it…and when we observe it, like with the I-Pod, we buy it.  But, with the rest of the crapola, we find ourselves buying more and more, just hoping that we satisfy ourselves.

I think WalMart started it all.

Here is what you can do now to correct this situation, especially if you are just starting out.  Read about good design.  Buy less, not more.  Buy two shirts, not six, but spend the same amount of money.  Buy higher quality furniture and accessories for your home.  If you can’t afford it, save up and buy one nice piece.  Trust me, it will last and last…most likely, a lifetime.  I know this all too well. My sister, a small town, frugal soul, bless her heart, bought a sofa about every 3 to 5 years…the old one simply wore out, or she got too tired of it.   At the end of the day, a well-designed environment will make you feel better about yourself in all sorts of hidden ways.  Plus if you are truly ecologically advanced, what could be better than buying less, but better, so that it lasts and lasts.  One can always find the best ‘deals’ just remember you truly do get what you pay for.

Steve Jobs has it right. And Blu Dot. JobDig, too.

Have a good weekend, namaste.

Oh…HEY!….is this just a small town, baby boomer yearning for days gone by, or have you seen the same thing?

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