have we reached peak design, and at what cost?

Good design should create something efficient to use, while also looking as good as it possibly can.  Just take last Thursday's post as an example.

Now, the first part of that equation is largely objective.  I mean, either something works well or it doesn't.  The aesthetic is, of course, subjective.  I've picked two items which show just how far design has evolved - one very much for the better and the other… well!

The first thing I picked to have a look at is the humble laptop computer.  You'd think that there shouldn't be much to design here.  As long as it's got a screen, a keyboard and a trackpad all in a relatively compact package then all is good, yes?

Well, the design masters in this world are Apple. You can argue all you like about their products but there is no denying that design wise they are pretty well perfect.  But it hasn't always been so.

Their early laptops (left) were large, bloated, blobby and largely plastic designs.  A far cry from their current, super-slick aluminium machines.  Their appearance hasn't changed an awful lot since 2006 though, a sure sign that they got it pretty well 100% right sixteen years ago now.

The elements behind efficient laptop design mean, however, that they all now pretty well look the same.  Thermal constraints along with the demand for always greater performance mean they they all conform to almost identical design standards with little room for individuality outside perhaps different colours.

I think we can almost all agree though that modern laptops look way better than their forefathers, even if that has come at the cost of any uniqueness.

When it comes to the other item I chose though, I'm fairly sure that we'd all agree that the advances in efficiency have come very much at the cost of beauty.

Modern racing bikes are all wind-tunnel designed, ugly, largely black slabs of carbon fibre.

When I started racing back in the 1970s, bikes were beautifully constructed from steel tubing, with gorgeous aluminium components that glinted in the sunshine.  Yes they all conformed to the same design standard, but different frame builders used techniques to set their frames apart from the others.

Contrast that with bang up-to-date machines which are unarguably far more comfortable, aerodynamic, efficient and therefore faster to ride.  Gone though are the shiny aluminium parts, replaced with dull, black bits.

So, while I would much prefer to use and look at today's laptop computer, there's no denying that when it comes to bikes, while I'd no doubt enjoy riding the carbon Trek above, when it comes to lusting after something, as i said at the outset, well…

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Anyway, forget all about design and join Dexter, the family and me as we stroll through Craig y Nos country park late last month: