There are certain bad design decisions that seem to persist for no good reason. Like when you buy a pair of scissors but can’t get to them because they’re trapped inside a hard plastic shell that requires scissors to open. Or the Apple mouse, with its port on the underside, rendering it unusable while charging. These frustrations don’t make a product bad, per se; they’re just irksome.
His take: “It’s primarily because some marketer feels that they’re going to look more elegant on the shelf.” There are sound economics behind that theory. Supermarket psychology Food packaging does a lot of different things, Zwanka says. It of course keeps food fresh, prevents waste and makes sure the product can be shipped efficiently. “But we also want to make sure that products are affordable,” he said.