Timeless design
As a designer of digital products I was always a little concerned by ephemerality, the transience of life of the results of our work. For weeks we could have been working on a new product, and then we launch it, and in a moment it is replaced by the next version. And nobody ever remember anything about the previous one.
Clearly, for digital products, change is the only constant, the condition for survival. “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” Sometimes it’s even hard to distinguish versions — everything is constantly updated.
Physical, real-life products have a slightly longer life span, but even there, progress is unstoppable. Every year we expect and discuss a new iPhone, and the previous one becomes “obsolete” exactly on the day of release of the new model. The new Tesla was unveiled recently, and despite the abundance of memes and jokes, all pickups are momentarily outdated and go to museums.
For all this race of progress one of the 10 famous principles of good design of Dieter Rams tells:
Good design is long-lasting
And as if to confirm the principle, many of his furniture designs, drawn in the 60s, are still being produced and marketed.
We tend to use the word “timeless” for any design that we like. But how many more commercial products are there around us, whose design hasn’t actually changed at all over the years?
So, the criteria for this mini-research will be as follows:
- The product should be produced and sold today. In other words, anyone interested should be able to go to the store and buy a new copy.
- At the same time, the design of the product today should be identical to that of the moment when it was firstly launched.
As it turned out, there is quite a number of products like this around us. To somehow limit the sample, I left here only those that I saw around and that began to produce in the 1950s or earlier. We’ll start in the 50s and go further back in time. Here are just a few examples I was able to remember on the fly. Suggest me more, please!
1958, Lego bricks
The first Lego bricks appeared in 1949, and almost ten years later, in 1958, the design was patented (and the material was finally selected — ABS plastic), which has survived to this day. The coolest thing, of course, is that modern Lego sets are absolutely compatible with those produced half a century ago. It is also noteworthy that Lego bricks in the 60s photo above are literally used as bricks for building construction. All other objects in the city are still just regular toys.
1954, Fender Stratocaster
The legendary model of electric guitar began to be produced in 1954, and its design has only been slightly modified since then. Otherwise, any “couch guitar player” like me can buy a new instrument today, which is practically the same as the one used to make and record great music by Jimi Hendrix (pictured above, Woodstock, 1969), John Lennon, David Gilmour, and a small infinite number of other celebrities.
1950, Bic Cristal
Hexagonal, inspired by the shape of a pencil (which we will also remember), Bic Cristal pen made its debut in 1950. Made of transparent plastic, it is still in use, even though in the twenty-first century we write by hand way less.
1941, Chemex
There are especially many examples of timeless design in the world of kitchenware and, more broadly, interior items. In 1941, Chemex appeared, a chemical flask for brewing coffee invented by the actual chemist, Peter Schlumbohm. Now, almost 80 years later, the presence of Chemex can help identify hipster coffee shops—thanks to the growing trend of alternative ways of brewing.
1939, the condensed milk can
Russia (where the author was born) also has some examples of design, almost unchanged from the past era, and this is not just a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In 1939, the Soviet graphic designer Iraida Fomina drew a blue-and-white geometric label for cans of condensed milk (second right in the picture’s middle row). I don’t know if Iraida was familiar with the word “designer” at all (Russian language didn’t even have it at the time, instead the word “graphical artist” was used), but her design with minimal variations is still being printed to this day. For people born in the USSR, this cans are perhaps as well-known as Campbell’s soup for Americans.
1936, the Aviators
The world of clothing/fashion is also full of examples of design that has remained unchanged to this day. For example, the Aviator sunglasses, which have been produced since 1936. At first, actually, for pilots, but soon for everyone. Today this design is sold under the Ray-Ban brand.
1935, Monopoly
In 1935, for the first time, the Monopoly board game was released and patented. This is one of my absolute favorite designs of all times. After almost 85 years, the playing field with illustrations, money (and even almost all prices!), property names and colors remain unchanged. The picture shows Charles Darrow, a man who has long been considered the inventor of the game, although, as it turned out, the history of this design is anything but unambiguous. Detective story can be read in the New York Times.
1933, Moka Express
And since we’re talking about coffee, here’s another one of my favorite designs. In 1933, Alfonso Bialetti patented the angular aluminium coffee maker Moka Express. Curiously enough, it was very difficult to make espresso at home before it appeared, and coffee in Italy was mostly drunk by men in cafes. Bialetti’s coffee maker was a revolution that made espresso a truly gender-neutral drink.
1932, Belomorkanal cigarettes
Another classical Soviet example. In 1932, the Leningrad artist Andrey Tarakanov designed a carton pack of Belomorkanal cigarettes — and this design showing the map of the White Sea–Baltic Canal made history and is still in production. It even made its way into the Russian culture with numerous jokes, works of art and literature.
1929, Barcelona chair
And here’s another category with a heap of examples — furniture, especially chairs and armchairs. In 1929, German modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe invented elegant leather armchairs for the German pavilion for the World Expo in Barcelona. They were never intended for mass production, but are still produced and remain one of the most recognizable furniture designs in history.
1915, the Coca-Cola bottle
The Coca-Cola logo was drawn in 1886 and managed to survive to this day without any rebranding. The design of the glass bottle has not changed since 1915. Even the taste seems to have been preserved. The coolest thing about Coca-Cola for me is that it’s the same for all of us. Presidents and homeless people have been drinking the same coke from the same bottles with the same logo for over a century. Perhaps this is the most socialist of all capitalist products. Will coke survive in the 21st century, when we began to pay much more attention to sugar, caffeine and healthy lifestyle in general?
1890s, Levi’s 501
The 501 jeans were first launched in San Francisco in the 1890s. In Russia, the Matryoshka doll was invented at that time. The only changes in design of the 501s — some of the rivets were removed during the Second World War, as the metal was needed for weapons production. Otherwise, everything else is in place. Even the small pocket was preserved, seemingly invented initially for watches (according to other sources — for pieces of gold, as SF was in the midst of a gold rush).
Aaaand the champion of our “ranking”:
1888, Koh-i-Noor
The Czech company Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth (founded, by the way, as early as in 1790) produces pencils in a yellow hexagonal body of cedar since 1888. Using the yellow color was a real revolution at the time, with all other pencils on the market being dark or unpainted. And yes, everything here is in strict accordance with the terms of this post — today you can buy a new pencil of exactly the same design as our great-great-great-grandfathers and great-great-great-grandmothers used.
How is it that these products are still produced with the same design, while others have been transformed? Is there anything else in this except by chance? And is there any sense in it, is it worth striving for?
At the very least, it is hardly possible that anyone will argue that all these are examples of great design.
- All of these designs are functional and quite simple first and foremost. The Bic pen is transparent, not just because it’s cool, but also to show how much ink is left. The Stratocaster body looks the way it does, not only because it seemed beautiful to the creators — it is dictated by ergonomics and mass balance. Aviators are designed to protect the eyes from the sun, which can shine from any possible angle.
- All were at the time of their appearance innovative and have opened a new era in their fields. All are quite unique and recognizable, and stood out from the competition and other products. And they were copied quite a lot, everyone knew a lot of imitators and alternatives.
- All are just beautiful, pleasant to hold in your hands and pleasant to use.
- Obviously, all were successful in terms of engineering feasibility and mass production.
Is it possible to have anything as constant in the world of digital products at all? Wikipedia? Craigslist? Hacker News? How long will their designs last? And again, should we even strive for that?
Everyone can find their own answers to these questions. In any case, I find all these examples very inspiring. For me, this is how we should aim to design any products. And how long will they actually live, the time will tell.
Kostya Gorsky works as a Product Design Manager at Intercom, and previously was a Design Director at Yandex.
(There’s a version of this post in Russian — то же самое по-русски)
