Every Day Design: The Vacuum Cleaner

Early in my marriage, my husband and I had a disagreement. He wanted to buy a $500 vacuum cleaner, and I didn’t. Specifically he wanted a Dyson. At the time, even I was taken in my persuasive Dyson marketing campaign, in which the designer of the vacuum cleaner, discussed his desire to design a vacuum cleaner, that unlike all other vacuum cleaners DID NOT LOSE SUCTION, EVER! As it happened my husband checked with his mum and brother back in England, who both owned the vacuum cleaner, and they both verified that the vacuum cleaner did not lose suction. EVER! So he promptly went out at bought the vacuum cleaner, without my knowledge.

To say the least, I had mixed feelings about this expensive purchase, but secretly, I was kind of happy that he had made the decision on his own. After all he Dyson was anything if not clever looking, with its colorful toy-like design and if it didn’t work out, I had no one to blame but him. In addition, my husband gleefully vacuumed for several weeks, sometimes, and I am not kidding you…taking it out to demonstrate to guests. During those honeymoon days, I never even had occasion to use it.

One day, my husband was out running errands, and I was in charge of the cleaning since we had guest coming round. For the first time ever I had to take the Dyson out and use it myself. For 45 minutes, I struggled to find, get this: THE ON SWITCH. I made repeated accusing and frantic phone calls to my husband’s cell phone: “Where are you? I can’t figure out how to turn this thing on! SEE, I told you. I knew we never should have spent $500 on a vacuum cleaner!”

After getting instructions on where to find ON button, I vacuumed the floors and carpets, and then wanted to hook up the hose with the furniture vacuuming attachments. I stared it and started at it. I could not figure out how it worked. Again, I called my husband, cursing the Dyson. "Why did we buy this thing? I can’t even use it." Then I knocked it over in anger and cleaned the bathroom instead.

Why the trouble with the high concept product that touted itself on its design value?

The Dyson conceptual model did not match my own conceptual model for a vacuum. Every vacuum I had ever owned turned on with a foot petal, but the Dyson’s switch was on the handle. Before I received instruction on how to turn on the Dyson, I repeatedly tapped different parts of the base with my foot looking for the on-off paddle that I was used to. In addition, when I did find the switch in the handle, the button was flush with the handle. (See picture 3) While it was clever and sleek, I was confused by another button that was near this button, which I repeatedly mistook for the switch.

In order to use the attachment and hose, the handle which is attached to a long metal hose, must be pulled out of a plastic collapsible sleeve and reinsert it backwards. If this sound complicated, that is because it is. This all in one design is clever, and compact, but not self-evident. The “mapping” or relationship between the hoses made no sense to me, since I had only had either upright vacuums or hose-like vacuums, never a vacuum that combined a hose and upright. Who would think to detach the hose and plug it in backwards to make it work? To get all this down, I had to have about three different lessons from my husband who: ACTUALLY read the manual.

To this day, I feel happy about the Dyson purchase. The suction is good, but every time I use the hose, I have to admit that I have to give a brief pause and think about it before I do it. I also have a little fit of anger about having to unwrap the entire cord from the handle, in order use or put away the hose attachment. This is why the Dyson hoses and cords can sometimes be seen sprawled across the floor for hours before I can get motivated to put it away. (See picture 1)