Why Some Designs Are Impossible to Improve: Quintessence @Design.Theory
Why Some Designs Are Impossible to Improve: Quintessence  @Design.Theory
Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
💻 Thanks to Opera for sponsoring this video! Get a browser that’s literally better at everything, download Opera today: https://opr.as/Opera-browser-designtheory

Become a patron of my channel: patreon.com/JohnMauriello

Sign up to learn more about the design book that we're going to publish: studioello.com/mail

Check out my online industrial design course, Form Fundamentals: bit.ly/335vsqO
Join my discord channel: discord.gg/hFw55nh
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/john_mauriello
Follow my Instagram: instagram.com/mauriellodesign
Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mauriellojohn

All content directed and written by John Mauriello. John Mauriello has been working professionally as an industrial designer since 2010. He is an Adjunct Professor of industrial design at California College of the Arts.

Edited by Brad Heath: bradleyheath.com

Check out Technology Connections, the guy who reviewed the toaster: youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y?si=wxRrh9ScQ8q3k4vA

Check out TFLClassics, they do cool stuff with their Model T (and other cars): youtu.be/3FMNUpFhsz4?si=UDj4VFm7_0N1aySs


Some designs don’t change much. The paperclip, the Bic pen, the QWERTY keyboard layout, and even the PlayStation controller. Decades and sometimes even centuries pass, but these designs barely change at all. They’re quintessential. Why do some designs last for decades, while other seemingly better alternatives never catch on?

Time stamps:
0:00 Intro to Quintessential Design
2:49 Paperclips & Manufacturing Process
3:46 Maglite: Intellectual Property, Patents, & Legal Strategies
4:55 Opera
5:56 Maglite part 2
8:19 Setting the Standard: Playstation Controllers & QWERTY Keyboard
12:20 Designs that Change Culture: Model T
21:49 Indispensable Addictions
30:28 The Fifth Element

Works Cited: https://text.is/0K1Z
Why Some Designs Are Impossible to Improve: QuintessenceConstructivism and Soviet PropagandaLIVE Q&A: Form Fundamentals Industrial Design CourseUS Government Funding Abstract ArtAI Limitations in DesignIs Kanye West a Good DESIGNER? Yeezy Design AnalysisIs Design Manipulative? How Evolutionary Biology Shapes Design TrendsSocialist RealismDesigning Sunglasses With a $200,000 3D Printer & AIWhy Are Designers & Creatives Elitist Jerks?Why Nothing Looks Cool AnymoreAI & Design Revolutions: Move 37
Design Theory |

Why Some Designs Are Impossible to Improve: Quintessence

SHARE TO X SHARE TO REDDIT SHARE TO FACEBOOK WALLPAPER