Assignment 2: Why Design ?

I was given a assignment to write about one of my favourite well designed objects and answer the following questions, I was also asked to include a image of the chosen object which in my case was the Nintendo DS which I have recently bought.

The Nintendo DS Lite is a remarkable piece of technology, showing us how much devices can evolve while using some of our state of the art machinery. For instance the DS touch screen stylus pen allows the user to draw and write on the DS, or simply move around in games while giving us a whole new experience in playing, a example would be “Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass” where to move the hero, the user would have to use the touch screen pen to reposition the hero to a location.

When I saw this I was thinking to myself in amazement “you cant ask for anything more”, here’s where I was surprised when I saw that the Nintendo DS has wireless network, a microphone which is used in some games, and a powerful rechargeable battery pack which lasts for 19 hours of play each recharge.

Why is it that we want our belongings to do more for us than to just
function well ?

We want so much more from our devices like phones, I-pods, handhelds etc. This is clearly because of how far technology is advancing which gives people the idea “it must have more then one use!!” into our head.
For example is I had to buy a hand held console, back few years ago people would buy the game boy advance which allowed us to play games only. Though if we look at the present date today, no-one would purchase a handheld where you can only play simple games on, we would get the latest handheld like the DS Lite which consists a touch screen, microphone, a calendar to store important dates and it stores images/music. This not only allows to play games but also allows us to have a lot more uses for the device such as a personal calendar.

Why are we willing, as soon as we can afford it, to play extra money for things with appealing forms ?

Well this is a really good question, I would say that the extra money is well worth it if you gain something a lot more appealing to u.
For example looking at the first Nintendo DS, which only had the basic black/white colours at the start, we see that when the DS Lite was released many new colours came with it such as ice blue
(my preferable favourite which I own), pink and colbalt/black.
The range of colours are important to attract people cause owners of the devices would prefer a colour they like instead of a boring colour like white and black. Also the new DS Lite is slimmer then the previous version, This also helps people pay the extra amount of money because not a single person would like to own a heavy and large object being carried around.