Objectified - Worth Pocketing This Film

"Bad design is where the customer thinks it’s their fault that something doesn’t work. So if you can’t make your GPS device work in your car — I mean, there should be a riot because they’re so poorly designed! Instead, the user thinks, ‘Oh, I’m not very smart, I can’t make this GPS thing work.’ People should demand more from the things they own, they need to demand that things work." - David Kelly, IDEO

"Objectified", a documentary from filmmaker Gary Hustwit, about our complex relationship with manufactured objects is now available on DVD, Blu Ray, and for download on iTunes. But it is also available through one of the most innovative delivery mechanisms for commercialized digital media that I have seen, the Limited Edition USB drive. I can't wait to see how the packaging contributes to my experience of enjoying this film again, but I guess I'll have to, since the site tells me "please note that shipping times can be between 1 and 4 weeks, depending on how far you are from New York City." I guess I'm likely to be 4 weeks far, up here in the Emerald City...

Check out the film trailer and read some other great quotes from a sample of the innovative minds explored within this entertaining documentary about consumers and our interactions with the products we love and hate.

Update on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:20PM by Gearhead Gal

And try the test over here to see what iconic object best describes your personality. Apparently, I'm retro-chic:

Update on Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 10:52PM by Gearhead Gal

To close this loop, I want to share with you what an amazing product the limited edition USB stick turned out to be. The package comes with a beautiful letterpress set of 5X7 inch-ish cards describing the design process. They are on beautiful thick card stock, and beg to be framed. The USB stick is so innovative it took me several minutes to imagine it could fit into a standard USB slot since the form factor looks more like an SD memory card than USB thumbdrive. My iMac instantly recoginized the drive and the movie played seamlessly using my Apple DVD player. It's a beautiful thing...