Witness the birth of the GE sketch-a-fridge. Currently only available in Brazil, where it is sold as Risque Rabisque (roughly: Scrawl & Scribble), the refrigerator is covered in a special coating similar to dry erase whiteboards. Replacing the age-old practice of sticking grocery lists and children’s drawings on the fridge, missives can now be written directly on the appliance and easily wiped off. It’s a simple innovation that cleverly integrates existing human behaviour, and turns a mundane product into something playful and appealing. Opportunities? When rethinking a product or service, don’t just focus on features or haute design.
As a teacher who spends a lot of time using white boards, I can tell you of one downfall. If you bump into the board (in this case, the refrigerator), the marker gets all over your clothes and doesn’t wash out totally.
It also smears onto your hands, and then transfers to all sorts of other locations. This type of fridge might be great at a business location like Google, but it would be a nightmare around kids (unless you write really, really high!).
Jul 8th, 2007 / 8:35 pm
This would have been handy for Miranda July’s last website http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/ where half of it was written on her fridge.
Have a look, I think you’ll like it.
Jul 10th, 2007 / 10:58 am