What Women Want in Gadget Design

The original article by Priya Ganapati is relatively unhelpful, devoting most of it's focus on the fact that most women don't just want pink sparkly things. The bit about what women actually do want is pretty much summed up as:

Real women want stylish products. They want products that are fashionable, competitively priced and easy to use.

Apparently a variety of (non-pink) colors is also appealing.

However, commenter "thorn" provided some more specific and useful design criteria:

i’m female, and prefer my stuff to look cool, and maybe a little bit rugged. i might be seen in a pink blouse, but will not be seen with a pink gadget. gadgets become obsolete quickly, it is true, but they are things that i will be staring at a *lot*. i therefore prefer sleek lines, but neutral colors (black. silver. army green.). my gadgets also tend to get knocked around a bit, so ‘not too shiny’ (which will become dull or get scratched), and no painted plastic of any kind (because paint gets scratched and/or wears off). also: i choose my gadgets according to these criteria in this order: 1. functionality and ease of use. 2. form design. then — once i’ve chosen my device — i pick the least-offensive color from among the choices offered. (this is also how i choose my glasses frames, in case anyone out there cares.)

Seems like a good set of parameters to keep in mind.


Via Core 77.