May 1st, 2008 | 
Author: IDEO is a design consulting firm. They have designed many of the things you use today. Probably some of the things you are using right now.
They’ve designed the first Apple mouse, the Palm V, and the Oral-B toothbrush gripper. They also designed a revolutionary shopping cart in 5 days…
They are no doubt the best design firm in the world, receiving more Industrial Design Excellence Awards than any other firm.
They are also total hippies:
- Idealized egalitarian meritocratic work environment? Check.
- Sticking it to “corporate America”? Check.
- “The basket is tyranny”? Check (19:15).
- Patrons of Whole Foods? Check.
- Can you naturally concatenate every sentence with “maaaaan”? Check.
Also, what’s the deal with Ted Koppel? His face looks like a hastily assembled Mr. Potatohead.
Tags:
Maybe IDEO needs to redesign Koppel’s face?
I never did see what their shopping cart looked like in the clip. Granted, I was fast forwarding because I really didn’t want to watch them pat themselves on the back for 15 minutes.
it looks like the video was cut off for some reason…
You can watch the full video here too: http://www.mncast.com/?2472965
The talk about the process was interesting, although I was not impressed with the final cart design. They did have a few good ideas that I’d like to see, and the idea of the modular baskets grew on me after seeing them in use…although their design also seems like it would be difficult to carry large items in. The scanner was okay, but I think it clashes with the idea of removing the cart and mixing in scanned and unscanned items in the same cart could lead to confusion and unintended shoplifting (or overpaying). Wheels that can turn sideways is a nice addition. As for theft — I don’t think people stealing carts for “storage” or “carrying things” is the reason they’re stolen…so the same problem still exists there.