Tricklin

Last night, while cooking, I realized something that I normally would have taken for granted. But as a web designer, I thought it would be great to make note of this finding.

How It Happened
The recipe called for 2 cups of water and 2/3 cup of milk. So, I grabbed a measuring cup, and the gallon of milk and starting pouring. When I finished pouring, I realized just how simple this normally annoying task was. I undertand this statment seems silly. How could a liquid measuring cup have such a profound effect on me?

Why Am I Making Such A Big Deal About This?
As an interface designer, it should be your number one goal to create an interface that is easy to use. Most often, that means keeping it simple. This is exactly what the good people at Oxo International have done. They've created something easy to use, while implementing a simple solution. They realized that there was something wrong with the way the measuring cups of the past were designed. People used to have to either a.) hold the measuring cup at eye level in one hand, while holding their milk above their heads with in the other, or b.) bend down so their eyes were at counter level, while holding their milk above their heads, or c.) pour the milk and make a guess as to whether or not it filled the cup to the correct amount.

Easy to Use, Simple Solution
Why was my task last nigt of mearsuing the correct amount of milk so simple, you ask? Because the intelligent people at Oxo have created the best liquid measuring device known to mankind: the "Good Grips Angled Measuring Cup". By angling the measuring device, and allowing you to read it from above, guess work and body contortion are no longer needed to pour the right amount. They've taken a flawed device that people had to learn to deal with, and fixed it. And the solution was simple.

As designers, I feel that we can all learn from this example. Sometimes making something the best, just involves a simple solution.