Unspectacular Things

On a recent family holiday, I was so enamoured by the simplicity and efficiency of the cup holders provided by Jet2, that i felt compelled to write a short blog about it.

Maybe I’m just late to this particular party but I hadn’t seen a design as clean, effective and efficient as this since Dieter Rams in his heyday.

Unobtrusive, functional and absolutely on brand with one of his most famous quotes “less, but better“. I couldn’t believe it was the first time I’d encountered this particular solution.

The other thing I couldn’t quite get my head round, was why this design hadn’t been adopted by all UK train companies. Lets take a moment to contrast it with the current offering on most rail carriages (see below). Essentially an ‘accident waiting to happen’ of a design, providing a taut sense of foreboding that’s comparable to the old Leonard Rossiter / Joan Collins – Cinzano Bianco adverts.

Whilst some might consider this a relatively inconsequential post, I’ve always felt you should stop and applaud (or at least recognise) good design when you come across it.

As Mr Rams himself once said “it is not the spectacular things that are important – the unspectacular things are the important things… especially in the future.”