Have fun, designers! Have fun!

Sometimes the industrial design of an object becomes unnecessary in larger society, this happens rarely, but I noticed it one day when I was visiting my mom's office. On one of the buildings' walls was a clock that had the standard minute and second hand tic-tic-ticking away the time, but the numbers were all piled at the bottom and a big "Whatever!" was plastered across the face of the clock.

This mass produced product shows that in some social environments the designs that we thought hold us afloat every day, when replaced with a new witty or ironic design, may be able to be put to the same use but with a fresh look and design.

Now to be fair, when I was younger this clock always frustrated me to no end. I would walk past it and each time look up with confusion. I wondered, why would someone make such a useless object?! For a fourth grader, who has enough trouble telling time on one of those darn round clocks anyway, this little creation here was simply preposterous, though the bold expletive I found enjoyable even through my irritation!

This proves that the usefulness of industrial design will never really go out of style, due to the need of the simple and practical in various stages of life. These industrial designers were probably the ones behind the design of the digital clock anyway, due to their understanding of the need of some for a simpler way of telling time.

However, as the setting  matures, there is certainly  no problem with throwing in a little humor in to replace something that has been rendered unnecessary in the current environment! Have fun, designers! Have fun!