Modular Design isn’t Always the Answer.
Modular design is being used in every aspect of the design industry and its presence is becoming increasingly more noticeable. Because why make a product solve one problem, when it could be the solution to many others at the same time?
I love well designed modular products, they can have benefits for both the customer and the manufacturer, this is ultimately what a designer must consider in order to create a successful product. Modular products reduce the diversity of parts needed to solve a range of problems, this means a significant reduction of cost during the manufacturing process. A reduction of cost at this stage may lead to the product being more attainable for the potential customer, a win/win situation some may say!
Modularity also opens up the product to multiple audiences… in theory a larger audience will mean a bigger return, from a business point of view surely this alone is a good enough reason to strive to travel down this path of design.
What do I have against it?
The list for the advantages of modular design is lengthy and full of extremely valid, unarguable points, so that brings up the question, what do I have against it? Well I don’t think a product should be modular for the sake of being modular.
It comes back to ‘Do one thing well rather than multiple things badly’. Let me explain this. If your target audience is 22–25 year old, fashion conscious city workers who have a lively social life, don’t then try and add in a feature which will appeal to middle aged couple who enjoy hiking and a spot of golf. As you’re just going to end up with an inferior, Frankenstein like product which appeals to neither of these groups of people as neither necessarily want to be associated with one another.
There are two main types of modular products, the first are designed to be configured to a purpose and then left in this form for an extensive period of time. A good example of this is furniture that is aimed at workplaces or educational environments, this is because every environment requires different uses from the furniture; by having one product which can be sold in a range of configurations the manufacturing cost is significantly reduced. The second type is when a product is designed to be changed extremely often by adding or interchanging additional parts to suit the user’s needs for what that day may bring. It’s the second type which I sometimes have an issue with.
Why is that?
When designing the product, how it is going to be used in the real world rather than just in the ideal situation must be considered in great detail. For example, a modular bag may take the form of a rucksack for a casual trip to the shops, but the next day it can be altered to take the form of a briefcase for an important meeting with a potential client, this is the ideal scenario. The likelihood of this happening in the ‘real world’ however, is pretty slim. What is more likely to happen is they are going to choose a configuration that suits them, and then not change it; this makes the other parts of the product redundant. Not only does this defeat the modularity of the product to begin with, but its also a lot of wasted money on unused parts. Its also quite possible that you will be left with a product with a questionable, almost unfinished, aesthetic which costs considerably more than its non-modular competitor.
Kickstarter is the home of unnecessary modular designs, a quick search will return an abundance of concepts with the word ‘modular’ thrown into the title. Just to reiterate, I have nothing against modular design when it is done correctly, however, the world just doesn’t need more ‘modular’ backpacks!
At first thought, having a product which is aimed at ‘everyone’ may sound perfect… so many possible buyers and potential customers. But because you aren’t fully understanding a specific markets requirement or needs, your product isn’t going to appeal to them. A fundamental rule of design is to target a specific customer base, understand their needs and tailor every aspect of the design to them, not to take aspects of needs from multiple groups to create a product which doesn’t doesn’t solve anyone's problems fully.
I wasn’t going to bring up how much I loath the ‘worlds first modular smartwatch’, BLOCKS, but I couldn’t resist. A person shouldn’t have to decide what they want their watch to do, that’s the job of the designer. Nor should they have to clumsily carry around other components on the off chance the need to take a picture using the watch straps camera because they didn’t forecast their need for it when they were assembling it earlier in the day. Its 2018, a smart watch should include a heart rate meter, a NFC contactless module and GPS capability as standard if its wants to be anywhere near competitive. In my opinion, this is a perfect example of using unnecessary modular design in an attempt to be unique.
James.
