About

Unpressable Buttons:Product design use and usability,
Designs old and new,
Inspired and unspired.
The little things that matter.

Pretty much everything around us has been designed; whether or not the designers did a good job, or were even paying attention, can make life enjoyably easy or just plain frustrating. Buttons, ubiquitous and widely varied in design and quality, are emblematic of these tiny but powerful choices in creating a product.

Some are irresistibly satisfying to push, like the click-click of a favorite retractable pen. Others infuriate us, like the crosswalk button whose metallic creak leaves us skeptical that it really got "pressed" at all. Special situations call for special buttons, like the covered missile triggers on jet fighters which are really designed not to be pressed. Sometimes buttons are called on to do more than they should - a basic bluetooth headset may have one button that can be pressed for 1, 3, 5, or 7 seconds to perform different, optimistically memorized functions.

This blog aims to call attention to these tiny elements of product design that too often fly under the radar, lost to the glamor of sexy profiles and feature-laden spec sheets. Because once a product's newness fades, it's the little things we have to, or get to, live with.
The Author:

Dave Gustafson is a product designer and mechanical engineer currently working in creative design consulting. Somehow, through overexposure to design compromises made between aesthetic industrial design and engineering for efficient manufacturing, a passion for real design usability has come out. Holding bachelors' and master's degrees in product design and mechanical engineering Dave lives in Palo Alto with his fiancee. He enjoys Burning Man, poker nights, and occasionally drumming with the LSJUMB.

Contact:
Email: davegus@gmail.com
Website: davegustafson.com