Power adaptors always don’t look like they are designed by designers, they are always black and heavy and considerably big. Nobody cares about a well designed power adaptor but a badly designed one can be annoying. The one Microsoft use for their XBOX 360 for instance.
Clearly, in California, Jonathan Ive’s team decided they want their power adaptors to be looked as nice as their products, so they put a bit aesthetic in their design of power adaptors.
For a start, I think the MagSafe is a very clever idea, apart from it’s main intension of protecting the computer being damaged when someone accidentally tripped over the wire, it has added a touch of fun into a very simple action. It is a joy to look at the connector being snapped onto the computer. On the connector itself, there are two LED indicators placed on both sides of it, so it can be plugged in either way up for convenience. When the indicator indicates green, means the battery is fully charged and if amber, means it’s being charged. All very smart so far.
On the adaptor body, same story carries on. Two pieces of ‘L’ shaped plastic can be folded up to wind up the cord, the plug is removable and replaceable with any different standard of plug or extension wire. Apple have thought very carefully about providing convenient and enjoyable using experiences for their users.
Then it comes to the styling, an area Apple are always strong at. Again, it’s gone for the simplistic route. A white square with the Apple logo clearly marked at the centre, which is a good match of the style of Apple’s laptops. It doesn’t look nice if it’s used with a British standard plug inserted on itself, you better off with an extension wire if you need to use the British plug.
So here comes the bad stuff. First of all, the wire comes out of the adaptor looks extremely fragile after it’s being winded up a few times. When I searched on the internet I found that there are actually many cases of broken wires and it can be dangerous. Why bothering to make a nice looking adaptor when the basic has not been done properly?
Then there is the worst of all, the material choice. Apple don’t seem to care about what materials they use as long as they look pretty. Many apple products, such as the iPods, the iPad, the iPhone, they all look very nice when you just opened the packages, but after a few hours of playing and using, scratches will go on their pretty backs and it will be ruined. In my point of view, it is like the Pagani Zonda R, obsessed with one thing and completely ignore the rest, except the Zonda R can do its mind blowing performance every single time, but Apples can only be pretty once, unless you put them in those ugly useless third-party made covers or cases. This adaptor uses a gloss white plastic, it looks absolutely beautiful and indeed very simple, but a laptop adaptor is something often being dragged on the floor, so the results of using this type of material is obvious.
Other manufactures use matt black plastic to make their adaptors for a reason. Apple have put all the time and money to make their adaptor good looking and convenient to use, but it’s the basic and obvious that made it rubbish again.
So, for designing something as inconspicuous as a power adaptor, the choice is quite simple. Either you pick it up and put it in the bag with out the need of paying attention to it; or pick it up, look at it, then think, it’s a really nice design, when it was new.
Tomorrow's topic: the VAIO logo
No comments:
Post a Comment