I am on the last leg of my return from Frankfurt, Germany and the Ambiente trade fair to my home in Minneapolis. I have once again been traveling with my iPod mini, enjoying the music and audio books that have helped to sustain me through three round trips to Europe in 35 days. The iPod is a wonderful and welcome companion—and so beautifully styled!
Then there are the Bose Acoustic Noise Cancelling® headphones I use along with my iPod…
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my headphones, too. The ones I travel with now are my second pair; when Bose came up with a clever way to fold the earpieces flat, I upgraded from my original, bulkier version, then bought a pair for my husband. I am a true fan.
I appreciate that these new headphones take up less space than the old ones. I also like the fact that they protect my hearing and keep audible distractions to a minimum when I want to sleep. Further, I am pleased that Bose has made this technology available because I really do believe that, because of how much I travel, these headphones have improved my quality of life.
But beautifully designed? I don’t think so.
Over the past several years, good design has stopped being the exception and has become the rule—in fact, a basic expectation. It has come to so many categories and to products as pedestrian as a $2.00 toothbrush. For $300.00, shouldn’t the aesthetic of these headphones reach for a higher level?
Bose, are you out there? If you are, I challenge you to take raise your wonderful noise cancellation headphones up a notch or two by giving them a design aesthetic that matches their quality. When you do that, I’ll buy another pair.