Hasta La Ideas

As industrial designers, we’re probably pickier than most about the objects we own. We become conscious of badly-placed buttons, poor ergonomics and shoddy construction in ways the average consumer may not. In this series I’ll look at the specific objects I choose to use most often, and examine them as if they were the subject of a design research project.

First up, my not-a-wallet wallet, which is actually a Japanese train pass holder.

Purpose of Object: Carry credit cards and driver’s license only. Cash and receipts go in my pockets, which get emptied every night to file the latter.

Price paid: I think it was 95 Yen–about a buck–in 1998.

Why did you choose this object over competing objects?
1) It’s thin. It had to be not bulky, yet carry my five EDC cards (Driver’s license, banking card, two credit cards and my ZipCar pass). I hate that back pocket wallet bulge and don’t know how people comfortably drive cars and sit on the subway like that.

2) It’s fast to use. It had to allow me to quickly remove and re-insert a card. As an impatient New Yorker I can’t stand being that guy that holds up the line.

Story behind this object:
I bought my first while living in Japan in 1998 to hold my train pass. Everyone I knew in Tokyo used them. The trains in Japan are as efficient as the passengers; the design of the pass holder allows you to quickly slide your monthly train pass out to insert into the turnstile, which opens to admit you while spitting your pass back out at the top, where you retrieve it and slide it back into the holder. Everyone did this smoothly.

Tokyo train stations are unbelievably crowded—it’s one of the most population-dense cities in the world—but the crowds flow well and efficiently. I truly believe that if everyone in Tokyo carried their train pass in a flip-out wallet, the citywide transit times would slow down.

I didn’t carry my U.S. driver’s license or credit cards while living in Japan, as I had no use for the former and believe it or not, it wasn’t common to use credit cards in 1990s Japan. Everyone used cash. But upon returning to the ‘States, I found the train pass holder would perfectly fit the few credit cards I needed to carry, and was a lot less bulky than a wallet. I’ve been using it ever since, occasionally replacing them as they wear out. On return trips to Japan I’ve bought a stack of the cheap things.

Stateside, Muji sells something similar (more on that below).

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