Logitech Desktop Wave Role of Comfort in Product Design - Page 1
Logitech Desktop Wave Manual
View all Logitech Desktop Wave manuals
Add to My Manuals
Save this manual to your list of manuals |
Page 1 highlights
The Role of Comfort in Product Design The Evolution of the Car Seat, the Backpack and the Vegetable Peeler The Irresistible, Irreplaceable Quality that Links These Products with the New Logitech Comfort Wave Keyboard We put up with discomfort when we don't have an alternative. We put up with it until something better appears. And once in a while something new comes along that makes such a strong impact that we come to depend on it, to expect it to provide comfort, to feel that we deserve it. We know a product's redesign is successful when we find ourselves unable to believe that we ever used the previous version, or, better still, forget that the old design ever existed at all. If comfort is something we all value once we have it, why do we put up with so much discomfort in our everyday lives? We sit in old, worn seats at the movie theater, our bodies sore from sitting in the same position for an extended amount of time. We type on our keyboards and stare at our computer screens for hours at a time. And, as the hours go by, we slouch, our vision blurs, and our necks and backs begin to ache. Fortunately, some products - such as the car seat, the backpack, the vegetable peeler and, with the introduction of the Logitech Comfort Wave Design, the computer keyboard - capture the attention of individuals or companies dedicated to making them more comfortable, more in line with the human form. When those individuals or companies are successful, the design shift sets a new standard for comfort that we wouldn't want to live without. The Car Seat: Comforting the Weary Commuter In every city of the world, we see them: the weary commuter. Maybe you're among them. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation estimates that in 2005, traffic congestion kept Americans sitting for 79 million additional hours in their cars. In Los Angeles, rush-hour traffic delays added 93 hours to the commute. According to Edmund King, the executive director of the RAC Foundation for Motoring, England is a nation of car commuters. "We have the longest commute in Europe," King told the BBC, "and even if our commuting time doubled most of us would just shrug and leave more time for the journey." The New Yorker magazine states that people working in Bangkok travel two hours every day to and from work. And, BusinessWeek reports that traffic jams in the Indian city of Bangalore can cause up to four-hour commutes! Fortunately, car-seat design has improved tremendously. It wasn't always so comfortable and the evolution from bench seat to bucket seat is a story of gradual evolution. Karl Benz's 1885 Motorwagen had a hard, wood bench seat that stretched from driver to passenger and a thin, curved beam that hit the upper back, providing minimal support. Though many later iterations of the bench seat had padded upholstery and more substantial back support, these bench seats were often fixed in one position. If you couldn't reach the pedals or the wheel, you had to perch on the edge of the seat. www.3-wheelers.com 1885 Benz Motorwagen with bench seat.