Ok, so I’m a designer, right? I go through my day and I see all kinds of little things that either drive me crazy or impress me with their design — and as an effort to get more in the designer headspace, I’m trying to notice them even more. Unfortunately, sometimes my husband just doesn’t get it when I start analyzing the layout of a billboard or crooning over the ergonomic rubber grip of a new kitchen utensil. Rather than boring him with all the gory details, I’ve decided to do a new little now-and-again segment here called “Good Design, Bad Design” (GDBD for short), in which I look at products, software, or whatever strikes my fancy and point out how awesome they are, or how much they suck and why.

I’m not trying to minimize the effort put in by the various product designers and UI experts out there, nor am I presuming my stamp of approval on their awesomeness means diddly squat. But just like a painter sees the world through a lens of composition and color palettes and a photographer starts thinking often of depth-of-field and lighting, as a designer, I’ve started seeing the world in terms of usability, aesthetics, and problem solving, and doing so helps me to do my own job better.

So, without further ado, I’ll get on to work on my first post in the GDBD series…