Design: The Man in the Trap

Designing is such a prestigious profession these days that there seems to be more of it than there are things to design. The result is overdesign, bringing more that is really less, heralding improvements that do not improve. Recent examples:

∙BUMPERS. Once there were bumpers to guard the fenders; now the bumpers seem far too delicate to be bumped. Some, in fact, have so many knife-edges and knobs that they act more like can openers than bumpers. As for the friendly push in time of stress, drivers have to be careful that pusher and pushee match up bumper-wise. One solution...

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