Last week I was invited to write a Voxpop for Design Week, the Voxpop is a weekly feature in the magazine where four design experts are asked to respond to a news item/proposition from the design industry that week.
The proposition I was asked to respond to was:
“The world’s biggest mobile phone makers have announced a deal to use a universal phone charger that will work on millions of handsets. What single design change would improve your everyday life?”
And my response was:
“As a commuter who has to spend more that 15 hours a week travelling, I would like to see a similar ‘universal approach’ adopted by train companies. Different operators delivering differing levels of service, quality and speed in a network that doesn’t link up has a massive impact on my life. The design that I would like to see is a franchise system that delivers on quality, offers good passenger experience and encourages innovation.”
So, what single design change would improve your everyday life?

Aug 4th, William said:
For me, as a person of 6’9″ the simplest and most helpful design change would be to change the standard British door height to 7′.
Height is an interesting test of equality, and it feels odd to live in a world designed for average-sized people. We can all walk easily through tall doors. But if ever work surface for example were at 40″ then many of us would have to stand on steps to use them.
But having low Tube interiors for example helps no-one and excludes tall people.
Aug 5th, Deborah Szebeko said:
Great answer William, I don’t suffer from the same problem but I would like a stapler that never runs out of staples : )
Aug 5th, Alice Osborne said:
Teleportation because although sometimes the journey is the best part of any trip, sometimes I would like to be click my heels and end up where I want to be.
Aug 5th, Ella Britton said:
One remote control, I’m fed up of searching for a controller only to find it’s the wrong one!
Aug 5th, Paul Thurston said:
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