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Good Design Gets My Business

09 May 2003 by

Ok. So I’ve made a life decision — I’m going to always spend a little extra to support companies that are doing great work. I spend my time trying to convince people that good design matters so I figure it’s only fair that I practice what I preach.

My first purchase will be a Googie Drive as a back-up FireWire drive. What beautiful stuff. Only problem is, which one do I pick? The pill-shaped, portable, “it can’t be a hard drive” Clamshell, the aluminum surfaced, sleek, and silent (it’s fanless) Sandwich, or the monolithic, soothing Twist. Good design is so thirst quenching, isn’t it?

30 comments so far (Post a Comment)

09 May 2003 | yuckmouth said...

Wow, how nice - that actually made my day. By the way, I am partial to the Twist.

09 May 2003 | Steven Garrity said...

Those are all very cool looking, but is style something you really look for in a hard drive? I suppose if it's sitting on your desk all of the time. I'd prefer to see something small and diminutive (I know that some of these are quite small).

09 May 2003 | Paul said...

Why not have some style? For me, it'll sit on my desk... I might as well have the bonus of a pleasing design.

Twist gets my vote.

09 May 2003 | yuckmouth said...

I didn't even see the GoogieGo. Pretty slick.

09 May 2003 | pb said...

Anyone know how much the devices are? I couldn't get the store to work. I'll stick with the new iPod over the GoogieGo.

09 May 2003 | jarrod said...

Hey, if good design gets you guys business, why not spread that around? There is something definately calming about good design, maybe in that it makes the end user feel smarter?

I'm with Paul too, Twist gets one from me.

09 May 2003 | mark said...

I like the sandwich, but then again, my favorite computer is the xserve.

09 May 2003 | alisha said...

Im not quite sure why all of you like the twist - it looks like a mailbox. I like the clam. its quiet (no fan) and elegant - like a clam should be. (Im a big fan of the no-fan concept; even after changing out the fan in my macg4, its still loud. Nice that they offer it for free though!)

10 May 2003 | jj said...

Sandwich definitely, but then again, I am Scandinavian.

10 May 2003 | may said...

Hmmm...I just made the opposite decision - to not let
"bad" design deter me from buying something or trying it out. In the past, I'd shun things that weren't nicely designed. But I'm beginning to realize that truly new and innovative products at the beginning of their life cycle are most often "ugly" (i.e. the very first web pages and PCs). At this stage, just getting the thing to work is hard enough. Hard drives, on the hand, are pretty much figured out.

10 May 2003 | Steven Garrity said...

May makes a good point. Looks like we're going to have to vote for good design the only way that matters: with our (nice, leather) wallets.

I was looking for an MP3/CDR player for my car, which was a factory default Chrysler casette player in it (which is very well designed). I was frightened out of the electronics store by Totally X-Treme interfaces on all of the after-market players. (I swear there was a stereo that looked like a moon-lander with rocker launchers).

The difference in design (both visual, and interaction design) of manufacturer-default car stereos and aftermarket car stereos is striking. My best explanation for this is that the after-market stereos are more concerned with impressing you for the 5-minutes in the store standing out among the others. The manufacturer-default systems are more interested in keeping the customer happy in the long term.

10 May 2003 | JF said...

What attracted me to the good design of the Googie Drives (the clamshell, in particular) is not only the looks, but the other parts of the experience -- the small size (less desk clutter), the portability (from home to work), the silence (some don't have fans), and, yes, the "mood" they envoke (smooth, soothing, relaxing, etc). I'm inspired by beautiful things (beautiful in form in function), so why shouldn't I seek out beauty in a hard drive that sits in plain view on my desk? The way I see it, good design begets good design.

11 May 2003 | dmr said...

May I recommend a LaCie PocketDrive? My 30gb copies a gig per min., fits in my pocket (it's slightly larger than an iPod), requires no power cord for firewire xfers (6-pin firewire carries power with it like the iPod; usb does not), has no fan, and is also a fine piece of design with durable rubber surround. For over a year this continues to be my best hardware purchase ever (besides my g4).

Googie drives look great; very smooth surfaces.

12 May 2003 | Frank said...

Good design should be include their website which fails I just tried the Googie website and couldn't easily find all the products you are talking about shouldn't you be supporting companies that invest in good user experiences and intelligent web design? After all, it doesn't take much to stick a commodity HD into a slick case but it is really hard to build a company that gives value, service, quality, etc. To me the Googie drives are decoration, not design.

12 May 2003 | Scott M. said...

Agreed, Frank. I had to come back to JF's post to actually get to the products b/c I couldn't easily find them on their own Web site.

I went back and looked at it again and I'm still confused as how to get to a product other than the Sandwich from their home page. I see 5 links: Home, My Googie, The Company, Sandwich (photo), and Store.

When I go to the (USA) store I see the Twist -- but that's all for the e-commerce site -- no images on the product list pages.

How did you guys find this product page?

12 May 2003 | JF said...

Wow, it looks like Googie redesigned their site this weekend.

12 May 2003 | fajalar said...

This is one of the top things that drive me crazy about Web sites (ecommerce in particular). If you go to googiedrives.com, the splash page doesn't relay any information as to what you might expect to find within. All you get is the URL, and perhaps an idea that the box on the page is a drive (but only because of the URL). I know a little more because of this topic and having visited the site on Friday, but to me this splash page is design without purpose.

Their product may be nice, but I feel less inclined to give the drive a chance because of their bad site. Buttons that aren't buttons, having to continuously choose USA for which store to enter...

12 May 2003 | Darrel said...

"The Googie Sandwich FireWire Hard drive is the ultimate experience."

It's a hard drive.

Ugh. While I'd love to support good design, I fear the marketing-talk on this site trumped anything good about it.

;o)

The no-fan idea *is* good design, though.

12 May 2003 | JF said...

The no-fan idea *is* good design, though.

If it doesn't overheat, yeah.

12 May 2003 | hurley#1 said...

Since y'all are usability folks, I assume by "good design" you also mean functionality and usability, not just visual appeal. Jason alluded to that above.

When I was shopping for a small stereo system about 10 years ago, I read a glowing review in the NY Times of a Harmon/Kardon "Festival 100" shelf system that had a beautiful and elegant design. I ordered one, and while the design was indeed brilliant and minimalist, it was very frustrating to use. Nothing was intuitive, you couldn't figure out how to use it if you hadn't pored through the instruction booklet. An unfortunate triumph of form over function. I struggled with it for a couple of years and then gave it to a friend. I replaced it with an excellent and more conventionally designed system from NAD and have been distrustful of Harmon/Kardon ever since.

12 May 2003 | leonard said...

I'll have to agree with pb on the iPod. It makes for a sweet portable storage device.

Otherwise, for the absolutely smallest drive, be sure to check out the 20GB LaCie Data Bank (designed by FA Porsche, looks like an ingot, has hidden Firewire and USB 2.0 connectors).

12 May 2003 | dmr said...

When the hell are Firewire keychain drives coming out? They have the 8-128mb usb keychain drives, but USB sucks. The new lacie silver brick looks nice, but too expensive.

The new googie homepage is a good improvement; gives you a cohesive sense of their products. Googie is too much like google tho.

12 May 2003 | evan said...

Thanks, Scott M. & fajalar! I thought I was just incompetent. All this raving about beautiful products, and I'm faced with a poorly-designed website. Too many clicks, missing link to the products page, no mention that certain products are not available in certain countries... And when I finally find my way to the info for the Sandwich, it tells me how much it weighs, but I have no reference for its size. Except when I'm dealing with a CRT monitor, weight isn't the critical dimension for computer components.

12 May 2003 | JF said...

it tells me how much it weighs, but I have no reference for its size. Except when I'm dealing with a CRT monitor, weight isn't the critical dimension for computer components.

A whole SvN post on this topic is coming soon...

12 May 2003 | fajalar said...

it tells me how much it weighs, but I have no reference for its size. Except when I'm dealing with a CRT monitor, weight isn't the critical dimension for computer components.

One of the things I like about the IKEA site (and, btw, there are many thing I do not like) is their attention to giving the user the product details and even package measurements and weights. I know before I go that the wash basin I want will fit in my VW Golf, and will be able to easily handle the weight.

This is important as I don't want to drive 2 hours (one-way) to find I cannot take home what I bought.

12 May 2003 | mark said...

dmr: you probably already knew this but there's an big ugly ass keychain which requires a separate firewire cable at Wiebetech . the pro is that it runs up to a 1GB IBM Microdrive.

21 May 2003 | Grant Hamilton said...

has anyone ordered a googie drive? i did and haven't heard much from them. their US distributor (dvdojo) said they severed ties with them because they weren't shipping products. i'm a little nervous about my purchase...

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16 Jan 2004 | Nathaniel said...

If an application is designed well, the reward for users is that they will learn it faster, accomplish their daily tasks more easily, and have fewer questions for the help desk. As a developer of a well-designed application, your returns on that investment are more upgrade revenue, reduced tech support, better reviews, less documentation, and higher customer satisfaction. The rewards of building a good-looking Aqua application are worth taking the extra time.

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