Designers Focus On Gender Neutral Gadgets
from the gadgets-for-everyone dept
While, historically, most people have thought of gadgets as being something that mostly men were into, it's no secret that (increasingly) "chicks dig gadgets" too. So, it come as no surprise that the designers of consumer electronics and other gadgets are less and less interested in specifically designing products for men or for women, but are looking for designs that appeal to everyone. As someone in the article points out, if you're just designing for a particular gender segment, you may miss out on plenty of good design ideas. This all makes sense, but there is something to be said for targeting specific segments as well. Not everything should be designed to appeal to every single person.
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The Homo Depot
"The iPod is a great example of gender-neutral," said Brenda Laurel, chairwoman of the media design program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and a designer of video games for girls. "If you are a man, you don't feel like a wuss carrying it around. That's the bottom line."
What planet is she on?? The iPod reminds me of a BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) who thinks she's cool.
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Political Correctness Strikes Again
...but if you head to akibara you'll find plenty of hello kitty add-ons and accessories for random technology.
Now, if you mean decreasing size, weight, power consumption, general form factor so that the device will have better usability in smaller hands (yes, women have smaller hands than men... that's not gener bias, it's a fact), then I'm all for it... these types of advances help me too.
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Ergonomics vrs. Gender
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Re: The Homo Depot
...and to me it seems like this woman has some really weird ideas about men that she probably shares with the other half the population.
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Nature's unisex designs
As the book Biological Exuberance says, many birds and insects are not smart enough to tell gender apart, so they just keep buttfucking each other until enough eggs are laid. The Sambia people of New Guinea have a mythology that revolves around the androgynous cassowary bird; in their creation myth, the first people were believed to be created through homosexual fellatio.
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