Apr 26 2009
Design matters – London Marathon
London marathon was held on 26th April 2009 and there were more than 35,000 people participated. Runners dressed up with all kinds of funny costumes, funny as hell. I saw at least 4 spider men, 3 super men, 2 bat men, sunflowers and etc. Of course there were professional athletes, especially women’s game. The winner of 2008, 2007 London marathon, Olympics medalists were all present. Zhou Chunxiu(from China), Olympic bronze medal Olympic 2008, campaign of London marathon 2007 was one of the strongest potential winner who ended up out of top 10. She was in the first group in the first 25km and in very good shape when she passed my front door on Westferry road. Unfortunately she fell behind right after the 25 km point.
There might be a few reasons that she lagged around that point(24 km) where I was. She was not able to pick up the energy drink that was prepared for her and put on a table under a big sign something like “Drink pick up-1″. I guess that she might have moreenergy and get much better result if she was able to pick up that small bottle of drink. I also observed that almost all Japanese athletes had no trouble to grab their drinks. If you look at these two bottle of drinks and read my analysis, you might know why the design of the drink bottle actually matter.
| Chinese design | Explanation | Japanese design | Explanation | |
| Easy to be seen | Very poor | No clear sign, the label was rolled up and too hard to be seen; The colour is not outstanding | Very good | Two clear sign and one can strongly differentiated against other bottles; Color is obvious and can be seen from at least 20 meters away |
| Easy to be grabbed | OK | There is a strap but the material is hard and sharp. It could easily hurt the athlete’s hand | Very good | Strong and smooth material strap with blue color which is shining. Easy and comfortable to grab |
| Easy to drink | Very poor | Has lid; the position of the strap and the bottle is awkward [see the picture below]; very difficult to drink | Very good | No lid; has straw; very easy to drink |
| Multi-function | None | Nothing, but a bottle | please and encourage the athlete | There are the athlete’s favorite cartoon character, and slogan to encourage the athlete overcome the tiredness. It makes her feel warm and encouragement |
Check out the pictures below (demonstrated by my super model – Dapang ) and find out why the Japanese design is much easier to drink.
So, you see the design of a simple bottle does matter and maybe matter a lot. Think of the design in auto-motor or IT industry, a small awful design might just ruin your potential big success which was established with millions of dollar and lots of hard work.
