Box Ergonomics is a design philosophy intended to reduce clutter and save people's time. It has three tenets:

1. Everything should be boxy: all items should fit into a box-like structure �all cords and other protrusions should be retractable.
2. Everything should have its own, special place.
3. Everything should happen fast: cords should wind automatically - antennas should extend and retract easily - parts should fit into their places quickly.

    Look familiar? People hate cords -- they try to make things as boxy as possible.

Manufacturers should design with box-ergonomics in mind.

Example -- how Box Ergonomics could be used --

My old Nintendo Entertainment System was a huge hassle� whenever my mom put it away, she meticulously wound the cords around the controllers and stored them beside the unit. This took almost a minute -- Box Ergonomics would make this ritual unnecessary. To illustrate, I will show how Box Ergonomics could be applied to a game console.

• Tenet 1 � Everything should be boxy � tells us that the controller cords should have been retractable (or the controllers should have been wireless.) This would have made wrapping the cords around the controller unnecessary.
• Tenet 2 � Everything should fit -- the controllers should have fit directly onto the Nintendo Box. (If they were wireless, they could have been charged while on the Nintendo unit like a cordless phone.) This would have reduced clutter around the Nintendo.
• Tenet 3 � Everything should happen fast � the cords should have wound and unwound quickly (or better yet, there shouldn�t have been cords.) This would have saved a lot of time.

Now that I�m aware of Box Ergonomics, I see it everywhere.

--My Gilette Mach 3 razor -- The blade fits onto the razor, the razor snaps into a case. On the bottom are slots for extra blades. The entire design is very nice because it eliminates clutter and puts everything in a tidy little unit that�s great for traveling. (As an aside, maybe the strong sales of this razor have something to do with its Box Ergonomic properties.)

--The Apple iMac and G4 Cube � the designers partly fulfilled tenets 1 and 3, but ignored 2. The iMac certainly minimized cords, and was fast and easy to setup. A Box Ergonomic iMac, however, would have had a special drive bay or rack to integrate the inevitable USB peripherals (tenet 2 - everything should fit.) The keyboard and mouse should also have attached to (or fit into) the case. Still, it was a good attempt.

--My mom�s iron has a cord that automatically winds into the unit. With her old iron, she used to wind the cord around the iron whenever she put it away.

Another great feature of Box Ergonomics stems from people�s desire for unity. If you build a place for something, people naturally want to fill it. If manufacturers build places for extra peripherals into their products, people will be tempted to fill the spaces just because they're there.

In conclusion, Box Ergonomics calls for space efficiency and reduced clutter - it will make things faster and easier to use.

Again, if you have any comments, send them here.

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