On 6/30/08, Sarah Kampman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/business/30milk.html (Free > registration required) > > Interesting article on a redesign of the common milk jug, its > environmental impact, and the reaction of the consumer.
Fascinating but depressing... *Wal-Mart Stores is already moving down this path. But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers. Many spill milk when first using the new jugs.* Seriously. How many times do companies have to learn this lesson? If you make easy things hard, people will not buy your crap! Kudos for the effort toward sustainability & efficiency, but how hard would it be to employ a good designer to work on that spout? *Demonstrations are but one of several ways Sam's Club is advocating the containers. Signs in the aisle laud their cost savings and "better fridge fit." * Okay, let's do some math. Let's say this jug rolls out at 500 SC stores. Let's say that each store has someone doing demos for 6 hours per day. Let's say that person makes $7.00/hour (This is Wal-Mart, after all). So in one day, these demonstrations cost the company $21,000. Two days of demonstrations could get you a rockstar designer to produce a rockstar design that would cost $0 to tell people how to use. Sheesh. I'm again reminded that change management is a fundamental part of > Interaction Design. Yes, but this isn't the sort of change we should be managing. We should be accommodating human behavior rather than changing it. People don't like to change the basic, simple everyday things that they do. Now, if we were working with a dysfunctional corporation who "designs" on a whim, yes, we'd have to manage that change. There have been discussions on this list about how IxD *can* change human behavior for the better, where sustainability is concerned. But many of these methods rely on *influencing* our behavior rather than *forcing* it. Dave's example of people driving more mindfully when the mileage is displayed is a good one. But look on the bright side... if companies keep doing crap like this (and they will), we will never, ever be unemployed. : ) F. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
