

Product fitness - kirtan
http://www.muji.net/lab/fitness80/en/

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mercuryrising
They picked kind of weird things. Really, really high hanging fruit. The
impact of these optimizations would definitely be small, not completely
irrelevant but not enough for any one person to notice (unless they like /
dislike the changes). This is an interesting way to take on the problem,
instead of tackling a huge goal like waste reduction without any concrete
attainable results, you create less possible waste to start with. By
shortening a cotton swab, you throw less away. You are constrained in how much
you can waste by how much is there.

I want to reduce the amount of plastic thrown away each year. I can try to
educate the public about what plastic does, where it goes, how it breaks down
(hundreds of years), how it's creating an invisible garbage patch in the
pacific, but quite frankly, people don't fucking care. We're too small to see
the patterns in the hugely complicated system that is the planet. You know how
you solve that? Remove the temptation to throw things away, mitigate the trash
that needs to be thrown away, and show people the destruction. Or, you could
find a way to use that waste.

~~~
janezhu
I read a book recently called "Cradle to Cradle" (<http://amzn.to/Y9iRqm>) and
it argues against the existing, linear cradle-to-grave lifecycle of consumer
items. That instead of taking the "reduce reuse recycle" approach to
sustainability, sustainability needs to be achieved from the most basic
foundations of design.

It asks the question, what if instead of avoiding waste, we could “eliminate
the concept of waste” altogether? What if instead of “working hard to be less
bad,” we could create things with completely positive intentions and effects?

Muji is going the right direction with small and achievable design changes to
address "high hanging fruit" that actually create substantial impact, though
more importantly, they invite the notion that we _can_ live in a sustainable
world without reducing our ability to produce and consume to the fullest
extent.

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aayush
MUJI does this often, looking at small, often over looked devices and objects,
and re-imagines them in a blue-collar yet poetically beautiful way. Their
products often strive to be invisible for the same reason.

The third paragraph on that link really sums it up by opening with "MUJI has
always been dedicated to the pursuit of adequacy, of designing products that
are truly fit for their purpose." Their view of the term adequate is in stark
contrast with a modern representation (say, a minimum viable product).
Adequate is good.

In a similar vein (from a different perspective), Milton Glaser's 10 Things I
have Learned (<http://www.miltonglaser.com/milton/c:essays/#4>) says the same
"Just enough is more"

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ericdykstra
The best design starts with the purpose. By thinking "what is the purpose of a
cotton swab?" or "what is the purpose of the binding on a notebook?" a lot of
unnecessary waste can be reduced. Muji is a great example of a company that
really designs with purpose over absolutely everything else, and it's
reflected in their style and timelessness of their product design.

This page, too. It's not over-designed, and there's plenty of white space and
there's nothing superfluous on there.

~~~
derleth
> what is the purpose of a cotton swab?

If you answer "cleaning my ear", you're risking serious damage.

That's both a specific warning ( _DO NOT PUT COTTON SWABS IN YOUR EAR_ ) and a
more general question: How do you plan to deal with misuse of your product?
"Not dealing with it" is a form of dealing with it; it's not really possible
to duck this question. With cotton swabs, the answer seems to be "education
and a lot of damaged eardrums".

~~~
aaronbrethorst
How do you clean your ears?

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awayand
you don't. they clean themselves. little hairs bring out the stuff far enough
for you to be able to wash without the need for tools. and you might want to
to clean your ears out every few years by a pro.

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zalew
toilet paper space is easily saved just by not attaching the roll stiffening.
obviously you can't hang it then.

johnnie walker originally started making square profile bottles to save space
in transport and make them stick firmly to each other so less of them break.
some time ago milk (and water) was sold in foil, too bad it all got replaced
by plastic crap. I've also read somewhere calculations how much space in
transport would be saved if coke bottles were of square profile, but can't
find it now.

~~~
janezhu
The square Coke bottle concept was designed by Andrew Kim:
<http://www.minimallyminimal.com/2010/3/15/ecocoke.html> It allows for 1-2
additional bottles in the space it takes to transport 4 round bottles.

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AngryParsley
I like the idea, but I'm not sure how well it would work in reality.
Conspicuously absent are examples of products already reduced in size.
Airplane seats immediately come to mind.

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bravoyankee
Love this idea. So obvious yet so fresh. I think it's because we live on
autopilot most of the time. We passively accept the things we use as "the way
it just is". Or that it's not up to us, or not our responsibility.

Case in point is litter in scenic areas (or anywhere). People just ignore it,
even when it's completely in front of them. It's like a negative
hallucination. When people do see it, it's not their responsibility and
dismiss it. It's so ingrained its almost instant.

The environment, the water is OUR responsibility. Don't leave it for someone
else to deal with.

