That's ... uncomfortable.
February 25, 2017 8:56 AM   Subscribe

Firmly in the uncanny valley of design, "The Uncomfortable renderings help show how "good design is 99% invisible" by twisting it just a little. The creator wants to "re- design useful objects making them uncomfortable but usable and maintain the semiotics of the original item." (previously, kinda)
posted by peripatetron errant (9 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Double. -- LobsterMitten



 
Man, I would love to use these as props and set pieces in a play.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:00 AM on February 25, 2017


She has a future in UX for government websites.
posted by randomkeystrike at 9:08 AM on February 25, 2017 [2 favorites]


Some of these remind me of Meret Oppenheim sculptures.
posted by gwint at 9:09 AM on February 25, 2017


double
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 9:28 AM on February 25, 2017


My dad once got a gag fork - probably from a drug rep from back in the day when they used to give doctors dumb little things like pads of paper, pens, acti-gal the gal bladder doll, hybrid balloons and what not. This though, was a fork. With no label as 'from a drug company' on it - just likely on the box he removed it from. Any ways, solid metal, designed almost exactly like our scalloped handles on our regular silverware - but flat, with all the fork tines bent outward vaguely like a two dimensional fluffy cloud on a stainless steel fork base.

We had no idea he had it. He held onto for a while until we were on a long road trip and we had to stop and eat... probably at a Denny's or whatever dine in off interstate dining option was available... My dad, turned to us that morning at some point and told us he was going to do a practical joke on mom at mealtime. All we needed to do was get her up to use the bathroom.

Which of course, she didn't seem to need to do... she sat at the table, and my mom figured out (unintentionally) how to foil his plans and just not need to get up. My dad was desperate, so when the check arrived... he paused, and asked for the desert menu which was something that never happened in our house. never. My mom said she wasn't hungry for it, my dad insisted, and she angrily got up from the table and excuses herself for the bathroom. My dad feverishly set to work, replacing her desert fork with this gag fork and waited for her until she arrived back at the table. Of course, she didn't want to eat any - and he and my sister and I are losing our minds, trying to convince her to eat a crappy roadside desert and making sounds of it being so good.

Finally she acquiesced, and agrees to have a bite. And it ia not until then thst she realizes that he picked the restautant instead of McDonald's, ordered desert instead of not, and worked to get her to use the bathroom ridiculously hard - just to pull this gag.

All tension was gone, my mom laughed, and we enjoyed the desert - my mom requesting a functional fork.

About 2 minutes after we got back into the car, my mom decides that she can use it as a cranberry server... so yeah... it has been used since as one...
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:45 AM on February 25, 2017 [4 favorites]


really makes me grateful for the little things, like scissors that don't have sharpened blades on the finger holes
posted by thelonius at 10:02 AM on February 25, 2017 [2 favorites]


A lot of these are not actually usable though.
posted by jeather at 10:05 AM on February 25, 2017


Yeah - these aren't so much "uncomfortable" as they are "useless".
posted by Going To Maine at 10:17 AM on February 25, 2017


When I'm bored in the workshop, I take apart old hard drives just to retrieve the super strong neodymium magnets. They're stuck all over the toolchest. I have a bad addiction to Altoids. Put one of those magents in an empty metal Altoids tin and you have something to hold up Xmas cards and kids report cards on the frig that you have to push off slowly to the side of the door just to remove it.

I keep one stuck to the back of the car. Everybody asks why. I have no idea why. I tell them that's where I keep my extra set of keys/money/valuables. They nod slowly.
posted by hal9k at 10:30 AM on February 25, 2017 [2 favorites]


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