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“Nutrition Facts”-style label for light bulbs, mandated by the FTC and coming in mid-2011. Seeing data like expected cost and lifetime will help buyers make more informed decisions. [via Reddit]

# design

# nutrion facts

# consumer

Good design will make a product understandable

Dieter Rams, Ten principles to good design

# design

# usability

The best features are invisible.

Scott Stevenson

# design

My definition of fragile code is, suppose you want to add a feature — good code, there’s one place where you add that feature and it fits; fragile code, you’ve got to touch ten places.

Ken Thompson, quoted by Peter Seibel in Coders at Work (p 467)

# programming

# design

When a CEO who is starting up an online business says they want their product ‘to be as simple as Apple,’ we all know what that means. What start ups forget is how many people’s efforts and hours go into making Apple’s products that clean and simple. In my experience, it has been a real challenge to convey how much longer a simple solution takes over a complex one. A truly simple and elegant solution just demands more time and cycles than most people understand.

Kristee Rosendahl, via Andrew Chen’s Update on the Steve Jobs post from an Apple alum [via Buzz Andersen]

Eko — Ecological & economical traffic light concept [via Information Aesthetics]

# traffic light

# design

When simple things need instructions, it is a sign of poor design.

A Rule of Thumb on Judging Design from Dean Sheridan

# usability

# design

Coil Lamp by Craighton Berman [via Rene]

# lamp

# design

Far Foods: “Alternative packaging for supermarket produce, highlighting the distances that some foods travel from and the resultant carbon dioxide released during the journey. The receipt features a boarding card style tear-off strip.” [via]