Recently by Katie

I bought Happy Baby green puffs. Noticed on the bottom of the container that it says Method, the cleaning company. So, I googled to discover that Method had thousands of containers it was never going to use after a packaging redesign. So Happy Baby bought them, to package their puffs in non-toxic, recyclable, non-Bisphenol A containers. Interesting packaging choice. I'm still not sure if it's brilliant or anxiety inducing. 

Why is there a dolphin on the laundry detergent? Another asked-by-a-4-year-old question. I don't know actually, but there is indeed a dolphin on our All Free and Clear HE detergent. My best guess is they're playing up their eco-friendliness and a new twist on the old "put a cute baby on ads for everything."

Necessity is the mother of research and development. I've been looking at baby carriers, and finally chose one. I love guessing how the design of products like this started with something old and people added their own clever ideas until now it can be used front or back, transferred from person to person with the baby inside, and with a pocket to carry essentials.

Following up on my last post musing about when people can understand warning and bathroom signs, here's a light hearted site about them, should you need a warning sign of your own. Alert the world to Godzilla, gas masks, or what looks to me like a flashing fairy wand. Or check out Speak Up for more about pictograms.

On a recent car trip, my 4 year old Evie started asking about all kinds of "generic people" signs. You might think that they're fairly universally recognizable. They certainly can work cross culturally. But I have been wondering how early recognition comes. She learned quickly what they meant, but she couldn't tell most automatically since she can't read the words. One of the odder: don't close the baby up in the changing table.

I'm working on a project for Scholastic Books and get to check out new picture books and illustrators. I want a picture of Jeremy Tankard's Grumpy Bird to show up automatically on my computer screen when I'm having a grumpy morning too.

I hate the Toto dual flush toilets that seem to be everywhere now. Literally yesterday Patrick clued me in to how they work. They have 2 flush "settings." I thought maybe they had some sensor that told them what level flush to use, since there aren't 2 buttons for high and low flush, which I think would be the most intuitive. No, you have to push the flush twice rapidly to get the higher power flush. I suspect Donald Norman is not pleased by them any more than I am. One of his principles is that products like doors should not need even one word instruction manuals. So if your door must say push or pull in order for an average person to know how to use it, it's over-designed and impractical.

My friend Miriam Tell did a blog post about children's books with errors a while back, and this was my addition to her roster of mistakes: Leo Lionni's A Color of His Own contains the line "Goldfish are red." with a picture of an orange goldfish. And of course, the point that goldfish by definition, should probably be gold when making a book as simple as possible. Annoyed parent's design tip for children's book illustrations: You may invent your own world. However, your invented world should be consistent between words and illustrations.