First off, let me clarify that I am not an industrial designer. That being said, DUDES, why do you keep designing remote controls the same old way? Why, as technology progresses, do TV/satellite/stereo/etc remotes by and large remain ridiculously overburdened with cryptically named buttons, half of which I never have occasion to press (literally never), still have shaky back panels that let the AAs fall out, and find designed “improvement” only in the ergonomics of the thing?
We all know that remotes are wonderful things, and there have been neato little advances, like being able to control iTunes with your TiVo remote, but let’s be honest: the whole thing needs to be rethought. Insert obligatory Apple reference here. I’m not sure if it’s encouraging or disheartening that my first searches for rethought remote controls yielded only product concepts from design students (like this one and this one), but at least someone is thinking about it.
It’s not just remote controls; there are so many things that we as designers (of all stripes) just keep rehashing because they’re familiar and have worked reasonably well in the past. Oftentimes with deadlines, budgets and nervous clients, there is no opportunity to step back and really look at the problem the way we should. It’s easier to put a hundred buttons on a remote like the client wanted and be done with it, instead of fighting to rethink the product into something more useful and intuitive. That’s not to say that the wheel must be reinvented with every project, but it seems to me there are plenty of wheels out there that do need complete overhauls (Department of Motor Vehicles, anyone?) and it’s up to us to identify them. And hey, it might even be fun.