The Hidden Design of Everyday Objects

Ever wondered why smartphone corners are rounded or why keyboard letters aren't arranged alphabetically? The world around you has been meticulously designed with purpose, function, and ingenuity—you just might not have noticed it until now.

From the humble pen cap with its life-saving air hole to the strategic placement of the "57" on Heinz ketchup bottles, everyday objects contain hidden design elements that make our lives easier, safer, and more efficient. We dive into these overlooked innovations, revealing how thoughtful engineering shapes our daily experiences without our conscious awareness. Did you know stop signs were originally yellow because weather-resistant red paint didn't exist until the 1950s? Or that toilet paper perforations not only help you tear sheets but also prevent the roll from unspooling too quickly?

Beyond physical objects, we explore what we call "invisible design"—the systems, strategies, and methodologies that organize our lives. This includes everything from meeting structures to conversation approaches to the innovative underground garbage collection systems in the Netherlands. As Steve Jobs understood, great design isn't just about how something looks—it's about how seamlessly it works.

The next time you pick up scissors, use a coffee cup that fits perfectly in your car's cupholder, or type on your computer keyboard, take a moment to appreciate the countless iterations and refinements that created these seemingly simple objects. We'd love to hear your examples of hidden design elements you've noticed! Share them with us through Instagram or directly through this podcast as we continue our journey exploring how design thinking shapes our world in visible and invisible ways.

Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/

https://scottwoolley.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing iDesign Lab Podcast
• 0:49 Hidden Design in Everyday Objects
• 2:31 Invisible Design in Daily Life
• 6:13 Clever Design Solutions
• 9:26 Ergonomics and Functional Design
• 14:12 Episode Closing and Feedback Request

Transcript

Voice Over: 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design.

Tiffany Woolley: 0:49

On today's iDesignLab tidbit, we're going to kind of discuss some of the quirky everyday objects and how they have their design or why they have their certain design Hidden design.

Scott Woolley: 1:02

I call it.

Tiffany Woolley: 1:03

Yeah, hidden design.

Scott Woolley: 1:04

There's so much in life that we come across and we're using and seeing, and don't even take it for granted, the design that's behind it, the things that we use A spoon, this design that's in a spoon. I mean, most people don't realize and think about the fact that the design that's been put into making and creating a spoon, just a cell phone that we're carrying, using nonstop. There's so much design and let's just forget about what's inside the phone. But why are the edges?

Tiffany Woolley: 1:36

rounded.

Scott Woolley: 1:37

Why are the corners and so forth rounded? There's reasons. The reason why is that if it was straight, it would be sharp. Rounded is not sharp Rounded also would. If you drop it, it's going to break quicker. Rounded helps from a design standpoint Soften the blow. That's correct.

Tiffany Woolley: 1:55

Yeah, I know, I don't think people realize where design hits us every single day and all the different facets, and sometimes these design characteristics are somewhat flaws that are actually positives, correct. You know, I think one of the ones that most people always hear about, or I know kids talk about, is like the ketchup bottle, the Heinz 57. I mean, it was some sort of a flaw that that little 57.

Scott Woolley: 2:25

No, the flaw is that the way in which the ketchup was made and the consistency made it very difficult to pour out of the bottle. But Heinz realized that where the 57 is, if you tap on the bottle, where the 57 is on the a little bit quicker and smoother and just all these crazy little things. Think of a toothbrush, the design behind a toothbrush and how many different types of toothbrushes there are.

Scott Woolley: 2:56

I know the angled and the iDesign Lab podcast, this podcast that we do that twice a week. We're talking about design in some manner or form and how it's shaping people's careers, their lives, what people are doing for a living in the design, in relationship to it interior design in homes, I mean the design of cars and so forth but there's so much that we just take, you know, we don't think about. You know what's the design of circuit boards for a computer? I mean sewing patterns, how clothing is sewn and the patterns that are used, and those patterns actually create detail, you know, and some of these things are a lack of.

Tiffany Woolley: 3:42

You're not trying to create a detail, but those details become inherent because of.

Scott Woolley: 3:47

Right, but then there's also what I call the invisible design. I mean how we're managing our households, how we're planning a meal it's designed, or in the manner of how we do it logistics. Logistics in every aspect of life getting on a plane, the flights, the times for a plane design trains I mean itinerary as a emotional support for others. You're designing how you're going to emotionally support someone or approach a conversation.

Tiffany Woolley: 4:17

I mean all of these things.

Scott Woolley: 4:20

Meeting notes are basically another form of design that I call and look at as invisible design, because we don't think about that as design. You know, mentoring someone is another form of design you know which is another invisible design. You know organizing, you know ourselves and our life Strategically.

Tiffany Woolley: 4:43

Strategy is a design.

Scott Woolley: 4:44

You know, one of the things that, in this particular podcast, we'd love to hear from people If they could engage us and tell us what are some of the invisible designs that they can think about. Or what are some of the designs that are out there that we don't think about. You know, send us through our Instagram or send us right through this podcast. You know, we fly back. We'd love to hear you know what some of the thoughts are out there pertaining to this podcast and design.

Tiffany Woolley: 5:15

Yeah, like did anybody know that on top of a soda can the little tab has that hole Correct? And you're supposed to pivot it and it's supposed to hold your straw.

Scott Woolley: 5:24

That's the way the can was designed Right. Same with a milk carton.

Tiffany Woolley: 5:29

I know I actually think a milk carton's pretty genius. Right Same with the milk cotton. I know I actually think a milk carton's pretty genius.

Scott Woolley: 5:32

Right. Well, the original milk carton was basically called the Gable Carton, which basically was kind of like a little pyramid where you opened it up and gave you a beautiful little pouring spout. Tremendous amount of design that was put into.

Tiffany Woolley: 5:44

that Kind of reminds me of the construction of a house too. It kind of.

Scott Woolley: 5:47

Right, but we take it for granted, we don't think about these things because the things that we're touching, using, feeling, helping us every day of our life. But it all comes down to design.

Tiffany Woolley: 5:59

And when we focus on the design, it gives all of these little things a little bit more meaning. You know in the history of how it evolved to its current place.

Scott Woolley: 6:09

I'll give you a few more. A ballpoint pen Tremendous and incredible design. The cap on most pens have a hole on the top of it, like on a Bic pen. So when you take that cap and a lot of people put it in their mouth and chew on it, do you know why there's a hole in that cap? It's because if you accidentally swallow it, it will help you to continue to breathe. Yeah, that's crazy. And so what about a PEZ dispenser? Every kid remembers PEZs. I think we've got a lot of those still around.

Scott Woolley: 6:39

But there's a fun, crazy little design that was put into just a PEZ dispenser.

Tiffany Woolley: 6:44

I know it's actually a complicated little device Contraction and now they made it Correct. Complicated little device Contraction and how they made it correct.

Scott Woolley: 6:51

But here's another one that's so important. That's basically saved lives was the swinging of a hospital door. The swinging hospital door became the first place that we saw doors that basically swung in and out, very much like there was in a saloon. But in a hospital it became very important to be able to push people in and out of a room very, very quickly, so that design became extremely important for the operation of hospitals.

Tiffany Woolley: 7:21

I totally understand that. And how about the ridges on coins?

Scott Woolley: 7:26

It's just so funny that the government I guess isn't shocking decided to put ridges around the coin, because originally coins were precious metal and they did that to make sure that if people scraped off a little bit of the coin, Each coin each time, they would start to like gain wealth.

Tiffany Woolley: 7:45

Correct, I'm kidding.

Scott Woolley: 7:46

Well, another aspect in design that we don't most people don't realize is in the early 1900s, when cars came into play. A stop sign today is red. We all think of stop as red, but originally a stop sign was yellow and the reason why a stop sign was yellow was because they couldn't design the sign because the red material or red paint didn't last. Yellow paint lasted long on a sign in the elements outdoor. It wasn't until the 1950s that they were able to design paint that would last on a sign as where it then changed over. But even from a standpoint of design, you know, in my travels years ago being in the Netherlands, I think of two things that I always remember were very unique in design. Here in the United States highways have white and yellow lines. In the Netherlands it glows in the dark.

Tiffany Woolley: 8:40

That's so funny, so you?

Scott Woolley: 8:41

think at night you really see the lines. You're not really using the lights of the car, but the blackness of the night basically helps shine the lights. The other thing that was really interestingly designed in the Netherlands is garbage. In the Netherlands garbage goes underground. So your garbage you have like a garbage chute. They designed it so the garbage would go down underneath and the garbage would be collected from underneath.

Tiffany Woolley: 9:08

So is there like a tunnel system underneath.

Scott Woolley: 9:09

It's like a tunnel system, Like in New York City, there's the subway. The subways run parallel in most cases with all the New York City streets. Garbage could have been designed in New York that the garbage went and didn't sit out on the street. So you know, there's so many aspects. You know, but I had the opportunity many years ago to sit with Steve Jobs on a television show that I had done and talking about design. Steve Jobs, talked about.

Tiffany Woolley: 9:36

He's a genius at the simplicity of design.

Scott Woolley: 9:38

Really Correct, but Steve Jobs wasn't about the design, which he was brilliant about the design of the product and the packaging and how it looked and how it felt but also, which was more important, was the design and how it worked. So it's those different aspects of the design that are so important.

Tiffany Woolley: 9:59

I know, and even like the famed Tiffany box, I feel like, or Tiffany blue, I mean, that was such a. I feel like that is as synonymous with their jewelry or certain pieces and probably just as important.

Scott Woolley: 10:12

You know, just that color and that box have become so iconic box have become so iconic, right, but we're talking about items and things in our everyday life that you never really think about the design pertaining to it. I mean another item that we all hopefully use it once a day at least toilet paper. Why was toilet paper made the way toilet paper was? Why does toilet paper? Why was toilet paper made the way toilet paper was? Why does toilet paper have little indents and cuts in it to to pull it apart? One of the reasons for those little cuts keeps and holds the toilet paper from rolling out so crazy of the roll those little perforations that make it easy to pull each piece apart, just like with paper towels. Those little perforations that make it easy to pull each piece apart, just like with paper towels. Those little perforations also help keep the roll together from a design standpoint.

Tiffany Woolley: 11:10

I know that's super funny. Another big part of design is ergonomic design you know, which is a big part of the way something functions and why and how it relates to the body. So even like scissors, you know scissors that have a better ergonomic design is going to be more comfortable in your hand. Same thing with a chair. An ergonomic chair is definitely going to support your back. It it has a function to the design.

Scott Woolley: 11:46

Right, but there's so many different things. Starbucks we all know Starbucks for creating great coffee and starting basically a trend in a whole category of retail business and how we you know in our morning getting our morning coffee or afternoon coffee. But a lot of people don't think about was they actually changed the design of cups? Cups were pretty much just like we all have at home. They were cylinders. They made it in a shape so it would go in a cup holder. It wouldn't fall through the cup holder, which basically became then the cup that was used in sporting events where in theaters, with cup holders. So it was the change in design of a cup to make our life a little bit easier. But we take it for granted, we don't think about it. It's an invisible design that's affected our lives in many ways. Another one is just the keyboard. The keyboard for a computer basically emulated the keyboard for a typewriter. The keyboard for a typewriter was designed in such a way because you wonder why are the alphabet positioned all over the place? Why wasn't it just positioned?

Scott Woolley: 12:51

a little bit easier A, b, c, d, so it would be quicker to find it's so true. But when it was designed and created, they created it and designed it because they realized that the keyboard someone who could type very quickly if they typed too quick, it bogged down the typewriter. So the keyboard was designed in such a way in a strategy, in a design that would slow down the amount of how you click that typewriter so quickly, so it wouldn't jam. And then that followed suit into the computer age.

Tiffany Woolley: 13:25

I love that. So it's a fun tidbit today to get everybody's mind thinking of the many ways design affects our lives and hopefully we can be a little interactive. So we do want to hear back from you.

Scott Woolley: 13:37

We'd love to hear from anyone Tell us different other designs they're hidden designs. Scissors is there's? We've all picked up a pair of scissors, where one scissors so easy to cut with and the next one might be. This is a little bit. It's all about ergonomics, the design of ergonomics, and how it we hold it and how it feels and how comfortable it is and how easy it is.

Tiffany Woolley: 14:00

Yeah, the support.

Scott Woolley: 14:01

Correct, yeah, so that's all a little kind of what Tiffany calls our tidbit for this particular podcast. We look forward for you guys to listen to us on the next one.

Voice Over: 14:12

And answer back. Idesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. No-transcript.