New! Until it’s obsolete!

[For your sake, we didn't post this in Comic Sans.]

There’s a great article in Monday’s New York Times on product design.  Author and designer Allison Arieff laments to the current tendency of some designers of tech gadgets and appliances to add function at the expense of both utility and environmental impact.  It’s a thoughtful, meandering discussion, and it’s prompted some terrific reader comments, as well.

Several of the comments urge producer responsibility – in particular, mandates that manufacturers take back their products at the end of those products’ useful lives.  It’s hard to beat producer responsibility (for waste disposal) as a tool to help manufacturers make socially efficiency choices in designing new products.  An ultimate effect of producer responsibility policies is to inspire manufacturers to shift towards William McDonough’s concept of cradle-to-cradle design, where the natural and inorganic components follow two parallel, seamless cycles of materials moving from product to product to product, without having to be thrown away and buried in a landfill forever.  As the European Union has found, it’s also a great way to reduce packaging waste.

There’s no single take away message from the article and comments, but if you’ve got 15 minutes to read and mull them over, it will be well worth the time.   Finally, opponents of Comic Sans will appreciate comment #51.