Let Us Make Things Clear
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The crystal clear Canon camera from last week is a novelty, but the transparent motorcycle gas tank above got us thinking: Wouldn’t it be nice if we made more things transparent? One of the main tenets of interaction design is providing visual feedback. What better way to provide this than to give the eyes unfettered access?
Though done more for purposes of exhibition than interaction, GM was way ahead of us with their crazy Plexiglas Plymouth, unveiled at the 1939 World’s Fair. At the same year’s fair, Western Electric displayed one of their Henry-Dreyfuss-designed model 302s cast in clear resin. But these were, of course, mere exercises that went unrepeated.
We realize not everything lends itself to being clear: Those transparent backpacks on the market are a terrible idea for riders of the New York subway system, and those transparent Playstation controllers don’t add anything to the gaming experience.
A clear Canon 7D would be cool to see in action, but would ultimately distract the photographer when he ought be focusing his or her visual acuity on the subject.
Clear seems great for storage, though. As I tried to wrangle the unruly, accidentally-gathered collection of vintage thread above, I looked into these cool polycarbonate drawers from Muji below. (Sadly, they proved too individually expensive for me to house the entire collection.)
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