Overdesigning?
- Jan 15, 2024
- 3 min read
Yes, you read that title correctly. It is possible to overdesign. Wow, what a revelation. Today I am just going to explain what I think it means to overdesign and give some examples of it in action. Interested? Let's get going then!
So, what is overdesigning? Well, Google says it is "To design too specifically or to too great an extent, as by including unnecessary features". That is a good start, but I believe overdesigning stems from a poor assessment of a target market or context in which a product is used. Don't worry if this sounds a bit confusing the following examples will hopefully clear this up.
Chilly's water bottles are one of the best-selling insulated water bottles currently on the market and for good reason. They offer a wide range of bottles from small 250ml bottles up to 1L bottles. Their main selling points include their wide range of colours and personalised designs. However, no matter what bottle you choose, your consumer profile stays constant. People who want a personalised or unique bottle for going to work, school, or sports that they will fill up with water and use during the day.
Great! So, you might be wondering what makes Chilly's products overdesigned. Well, if you have ever used one you will know that they provide amazing insulative properties. I once left water in one for a week and, I kid you not, it was still cold when I eventually took a drink. To accomplish this feat, they use "double-walled vacuum technology" and very specific material choices, which makes the product expensive. However, I am not too concerned with this as they still sell. I am concerned with the fact that it is completely unnecessary. This product isn't used by hardcore campers and expeditionists, therefore, the technology does not match the consumer profile. This is why I believe these bottles are overdesigned. If the designers maybe took a step back and analysed what consumers wanted, they would have noticed that they had gone too far. This is a bad thing as the materials and manufacturing processes used will impact our environment negatively compared to other, simpler, bottles on the market.
The next product I want to talk about is the mous phone case. Please watch the following video to understand how good a mous case is at protecting your phone.
Well, I think that video explains what Mous does as a company well. However, I believe this is another case of overdesigning but for a different reason than Chilly's.
Mous overdesigns so that they can produce adverts and promotions like the one above. This drums up excitement for their product, increasing sales. While this is great for the company, I believe the consumer suffers from it. How many times have you deliberately thrown your phone on a concrete floor, or thrown it down the street? I hope the answer is never. Therefore, designing for these unrealistic cases is completely unnecessary. The Mous case therefore again falls for the trap of overdesigning. This time it impacts the cost of the products massively. For example, their case for the new iPhone is £60!!! I have never paid anything like that for a phone case in my life, but people have, and it isn't down to the design of the product. It is done through clever marketing that makes you think that you need this phone case in case an alien invasion or the apocalypse occurs.
Now for my last example, I am going to list to you all the features of the new Apple Air pods. Ready? Well, here we go:
Adaptive EQ automatically tuning
Spatial audio
Wind-resistant acoustic mesh
HD voice quality for FaceTime
Style from ear to ear
Pinch perfect control
MagSafe sweat and water-resistant Charging Case rated IPX4
Instant phone connection
Skin-detecting sensor
Always-on “Hey Siri”
Announce Notifications
Enhanced Find My
Audio Sharing
Personal Engraving
Find my Network
Now of those 14 listed features, I struggle to find 3 that will improve the quality of sound that will enter your ears, Is that not the primary purpose of Air pods? The inclusion of these tertiary features is an example of overdesigning and I believe Apple has been guilty of it recently. I have tried these Air pods. They are fine. Just fine, nothing special. And for £180 I want special. The features I have shown just unnecessarily increase the price tag and while Apple has one of the most loyal consumer bases, if they don't improve their products this base may start to fray.
Now I understand that the opinions I have presented here might be considered controversial, but I truly believe that some companies need to focus on designing for what their customers want instead of these gimmicks that don't solve any problems.
I find the reasons why companies overdesign to be really interesting. So, what I now want you to do is think of something in your life that is overdesigned and ask yourself, why is it overdesigned? and importantly, do I need it?
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