5 Principles of "Freakonomics"

I'm reading a book so provocative and amazing that it is challenging many of the "self evident" truths that I've held for quite some time now.

For example, did you ever consider that the late-90s precipitous drop in crime rates in large American cities, including NYC, could very well be a delayed effect of Roe vs. Wade decision? WOW!

Steven Levitt (Univ of Chicago and MIT) is obviously not your typical economist since he asks questions like "what are the similarities between the way sumo wrestlers and school teachers act?"

Here are the 5 tenets on which "Freakonomics" rests:

1) Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life.

2) The conventional wisdom is often wrong.

3) Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes.

4) "Experts" -- from criminologists to real-estate agents -- use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda.

5) Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so.

When we write and design information, isn't that what we all are trying to achieve -- to make a complicated world less so?

Even in sales, you won't sell anything unless you can reduce a list of complicated features into a few solid benefits, correct?

I recommend this book to all my readers who would like to understand not how the modern world SHOULD work, but how it really DOES.

If you like a "tuneup from the neckup" (as Zig Ziglar used to say) you'll enjoy this gem of a book.

The Official Freakonomics Blog

New York Times Magazine Freakonomics Column

Missing Fourth Element in Basic Screenwriting Paradigm

You must have read the following "Basic Screenwriting Paradigm" a few times too many:

1) Get the cat on a tree.
2) Get the cat in trouble.
3) Get the cat down the tree.

This is of course very true. That's your basic bare-bones Aristotelean "3-Act Structure." It has not changed for the last 2,300 years or so.

However, it is not complete.

You also need a Fourth Element: the emotional reaction of your protagonist to the Step #3.

Without that fourth element, a "dramatic" movie rapidly devolves into a video tutorial of how to rescue a cat from a tree.

Don't get me wrong: video tutorials are great. They are fantastic tools of information design. But they are not dramatic stories for which the movie audience spends hard-earned cash.

As a creator, you have to be very clear on whether your are a documentary or a dramatic writer.

So here is the corrected basic paradigm:

1) Get the cat on a tree.
2) Get the cat in trouble.
3) Get the cat down the tree.
4) Get the hero react to the cat's rescue.

Or, for even a deeper dramatic twist:

1) Get the cat on a tree.
2) Get the cat in trouble.
3) Show the cat either getting down or not getting down the tree.
4) Get the hero react to the previous step.

Happy 4th and an E-Card Utility for All Occasions

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!



Here is an article by Peggy Noonan, one of my most favorite writers, that expresses the sentiments of the day very well:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010269

In case you're wondering where I got the image from, here is my source (thanks to my client and reader Steve G.) :

Click here for iCards

It is a great utility to send quick, tasteful, and free postcards through e-mail.

Enjoy!

Great Companies Respond Quickly

I always believed that speed is an essential part of many successful projects in life. Sylvester Stallone wrote his classic “Rocky” in four days. Jack Kerouac wrote his unforgettable “On the Road” in three weeks. Friedrich August Kekulé discovered the benzene ring in a dream, over a single night.

Yes, “haste” also leads to “waste” but the kind of “speed” I’m talking about is not haphazard, disoriented, Brownian motion. It is a disciplined, focused, sincere movement forward towards a target with no reservations, no inertia. It’s an arrow flying at mach 2.

Recently two companies impressed me by the speed with which they’ve responded to two postings on this very blog. Given the fact that this is still a relatively new blog with not even 100 postings on it yet, I was delighted with the response. I found myself meditating about the serious care with which these successful companies monitored their brand image.

The companies are FeedBlitz (the RSS and Blog-to-E-Mail company) and Jajah (Internet phone company). They both quickly responded to either a complaint (Jajah) or a piece of inadvertently missing information (FeedBlitz).

Their responses was an inspiration for me in my own line of work to treat my own clients with the same speed and transparency that they all so richly deserve. Jajah and FeedBlitz light the way to our corporate future in this age of instant communications and 60-second news cycle. Kudos to them both!

Joel Siegel (1943-2007)

We have lost film critic Joel Siegel to colon cancer. May he rest in peace.

I have never met Joel Siegel but in a sense I knew him better than a lot of people that I've met in person.

How come? Because we shared a passion for arts and the movies. Because I also loved movies for their own sake, for their own beauty and exhilaration, since I was a little kid.

Just like Joel, I also always enjoyed talking about movies, thinking about movies, and meditating on the art of script writing and movie making on a daily basis. It is not a career choice. Not the result of a cost-benefit analysis. It is love, strictly.

In that sense, I knew Joel Siegel and knew him quiet well. I exactly knew where he was coming from.

I used to watch Joel occasionally on ABC News' "Good Morning America" show where he was the entertainment editor. But I also frequently came across his writings on the Internet and enjoyed his vast knowledge and true passion for the moving images.

Hollywood has lost a kind, good-hearted friend. But Joel lived well. He did what he enjoyed doing most. We should all be just as lucky.

Bad "Information Design" Leads to Medication Errors

Why are there so many medication errors in the nation's hospitals?

The American Nurses Association (ANA) researched that question and came up with interesting answers.

It turns out such "information design" related mistakes like mislabeled medication or poor hand writing contribute to such errors more than we thought.

The survey of 1,039 nurses across America revealed the following factors responsible for injection-related medication errors:

1) Too rushed or busy environment (78 percent).
2) Poor or illegible handwriting (68 percent).
3) Missed or mistaken physician's orders (62 percent).
4) Similar drug names or medication appearance (56 percent).
5) Working with too many medications (60 percent).

Items 2, 3 and 4 can certainly be avoided by a more careful and user-friendly "information design" program.

As I always say: good information design is not a luxury but a vital necessity. Not only poor information design leads to inefficient and unhappy lives, but sometimes people lose their lives altogether because of it.

For more on this study, please click here.

Plot Points - SERAPHIM FALLS (2006) , APOCALYPTO (2006), SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)

SERAPHIM FALLS (2006)

Starring: Liam Neeson (Carver), Pierce Brosnan (Gideon)
Directed by: David Von Ancken
Writer: David Von Ancken & Abby Everett Jaques

PROTAGONIST GIDEON’S DILEMMA: He is trying to leave his old life behind by Carver won’t let him..

PROTAGONIST'S DESIRE: To forget about the past and get on with a new life.

PROTAGONIST'S OBSTACLE: Carver on his tail with a posse of five.

ESTABLISHING SHOT: Snowy mountain peaks. “Ruby Mountains 1868.”

INCITING INCIDENT: He is shot at the shoulder by a sniper.

PLOT POINT 1: Gideon takes out the bullet in his shoulder. We know he will survive.

MID POINT (REVERSAL) EVENT: N/A

PLOT POINT 2: Through a flashback, we learn why Carver is mad at Gideon, who used to be a Union officer during the Civil War.

3rd ACT RESOLUTION: Final confrontation at the desert. The two exhausted men decide to bury the hatchet and go their own separate ways.

-----------------------------------------------------------

APOCALYPTO (2006)

Starring: Rudy Youngblood (Jaguar Paw), Dalia Hernández (Seven), Jonathan Brewer(Blunted), Morris Birdyellowhead (Flint Sky), Carlos Emilio Báez (Turtles Run)
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Writer: Mel Gibson & Farhad Safinia

PROTAGONIST JAGUAR PAW’S DILEMMA: He is afraid of death but he has to face and overcome his fear to save his wife and son from enemy hands.

PROTAGONIST'S DESIRE: To live the good life with his family.

PROTAGONIST'S OBSTACLE: Slave traders capture him to sell to the Mayan temple..

ESTABLISHING SHOT: A tapir hunt by the local Indians in a South American jungle. Jaguar Paw is the chief’s son.

INCITING INCIDENT: Jaguar Paw and friends meet another tribe in the jungle who are migrating away. Something happened to them and they are scared..

PLOT POINT 1: Jaguar Paw’s village is ambushed by slave traders and all are taken captive.

MID POINT (REVERSAL) EVENT: Jaguar Paw is saved from the religious execution at the temple by the solar eclipse.

PLOT POINT 2: Jaguar Paw defies the odds and runs away from his captors, launching a long chase.

3rd ACT RESOLUTION: Jaguar Paw and family survive the slave traders only to be introduced to a new reality down at the beach – Spanish galleons.

-----------------------------------------------------------

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)

Starring: Tom Hanks (Captain John H. Miller), Tom Sizemore (Sergeant Mike Horvath), Edward Burns (Pvt. Richard Reiben), Barry Pepper (Pvt. Daniel Jackson), Adam Goldberg (Pvt. Stanley Mellish), Vin Diesel (Private Adrian Caparzo), Giovanni Ribisi (T-4 Medic Irwin Wade), Jeremy Davies (Cpl. Timothy P. Upham), Matt Damon (Private James Francis Ryan), Ted Danson (Captain Fred Hamill), Paul Giamatti (Sergeant Hill), Dennis Farina (Lieutenant Colonel Anderson)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Robert Rodat

PROTAGONIST JOHN MILLER’S DILEMMA: He is a high school English teacher but he has to serve his country at D-Day..

PROTAGONIST'S DESIRE: To find Private Ryan and go back home to his wife.

PROTAGONIST'S OBSTACLE: They don’t know where Ryan is. They have to find him somewhere in France while fighting the Germans.

ESTABLISHING SHOT: A much older James Ryan visits the military cemetery at Normandy, France to flashback to the D-Day.

INCITING INCIDENT: Army Chief Staff Gen. George C. Marshall decides that, since all his three brothers are killed in action, Private Ryan must be found and safely delivered back to his mother in Iowa.

PLOT POINT 1: After gaining a foothold at Omaha Beach, Capt. John Miller is issued his orders to find and take Private Ryan safely back home.

MID POINT (REVERSAL) EVENT: Private Ryan refuses to leave his squad and go back home.

PLOT POINT 2: Germans attack the strategic bridge that Ryan’s squad, together with Miller’s squad defend.

3rd ACT RESOLUTION: Miller, while dying, whispers to Ryan’s ear and asks Ryan to “earn it” so that the death of all those who perished to save Ryan won’t be in vain. Back to our own day, his wife assures Ryan that he is a good man and he indeed lived a good life and “earned it.”

5 Tips for Email Marketing Success

Here are the 5 tips that e-mail marketing guru David Atlas suggests for your success:

1) Use CertifiedEmail provided by Yahoo and AOL.

"ROIs in the 300 percent range and up are common because consumers trust the email."

2) Use a dedicated IP

"Having a dedicated IP lets you establish a sending reputation."

3) Use the same "From" Address

4) Tell Your Customers What to Expect.

"State your mailing policies up front. Let consumers know you are using CertifiedEmail, if you plan to. Run an education campaign telling them "here's how to confirm a legitimate email: Look for the blue ribbon envelope icon.""

5) Survey Your Customers.

And here is a sixth one from me:

6) Never ever allow a spelling error in your e-mail, especially in your SUBJECT line. That pretty much destroys all your credibility as a marketer before the user can even read the body of your message.

Headlines - One Hit, One Miss

Best headlines provide a link between the verb and the subject of the sentence. Try to come up with verbs that also define the subject in some important way.

In Object Oriented Programming (OOP) jargon, the "method" should be an "attribute" of the "object" itself.

For example, here is a great headline from Wall Street Journal (June 25, 2007):

"Gazprom Pipeline Plan May Fuel Worry."

"Fuel" is what flows from a pipeline and it also has a double meaning of "exacerbating."

But here is a miss from the same issue:

"Milk-Price Rise Expected to Steepen in July."

"Steepen" is not a verb intrinsically related to milk. But milk, when overheated, boils over in a froth.

So what about:

"Milk-Price Rise Expected to Froth Over in July"?

That would have been perfect in my judgment.

UBUNTU's "Virtual Desktops" End Multi-Window Clutter

Remember how you have a single desktop on a Windows machine and that everything runs there?

Do you also remember how annoying it can get when you have 2, 3 or 4 programs open at the same time, with many windows overlapping and hiding one another? Navigation can become quite a problem when you are multitasking on Windows.

Not so with UBUNTU Linux, thanks to the Workspaces you can create and individually name.

Each Workspace is a Virtual Desktop that displays only those application windows and/or documents that you place there.

You can have up to 36 such virtual desktops, arranged in up to 16 rows. You can click and switch to anyone of them without the clutter of a typical Windows desktop.

To configure your workspaces:

1) Right-click on a workspace square displayed on the bottom-right of your UBUNTU desktop.

2) Select Preferences to display the Workspace Switcher Preferences screen:



3) Select the number of workspaces you need and the number of rows to display them.

4) If you need to name them individually, double click on each desktop placeholder displayed in the list and type in a title. Click the "show workspace names" checkbox to display these titles inside the workspace button instead of a miniature representation of the desktop.

5) Click Close.

Now you can, for example, save all your writings on a workspace named "Writing" and keep all your images on another workspace named "Images."

When you click one, you will see only those items that were assigned to that workspace (virtual desktop) and nothing else. This way you will avoid clutter for good.

Two Useful Tips:

1) When you press CTRL and roll the middle wheel of your mouse, you automatically scroll from one Workspace to another.

2) When you have your Internet browser open in UBUNTU, right click and select "Move to Another Workspace" option. Then select the workspace in which you want your browser to display. This way all your web pages will display only in that special workspace and leave the other workspaces uncluttered.

Consumer Alert - JAJAH Charges Even When the Call is NOT Connected!

I love JAJAH (www.jajah.com) Internet phone service. You do not need to download anything and when you call, your physical phone rings which you pick up and start to talk.

JAJAH is very cheap, has great voice quality and also has many other useful features.

Top two I like:

1) You can have your one one-click-call phone book so that you do not need to enter the frequently-called numbers from scratch every time.

2) You can also save the shortcut of any call on your desk top, or send it to your cell phone so that you can initiate the call by just clicking the icon! Smart.

However, lately I have discovered a nasty feature:

You call someone. The phone rings and nobody picks it up. Or, your call cannot be connected for one reason or another.

Well, JAJAH still charges your account for it! The amount is not that much. Just nine cents. But still -- WHY?

I have written to JAJAH about this obvious software malfunction and haven't heard from them yet.

If you are using JAJAH, I'd also recommend you to do the same and get in touch with the company. If they hear from enough number of people perhaps they would correct it.

And if you are not yet a JAJAH member but consider becoming one, do so while being aware of this serious billing issue.

Tomboy -- UBUNTU's Great Note Pad

UBUNTU (the great-looking and totally free Linux operating system for your computer http://www.ubuntu.com/) comes with a very useful built-in notebook utility called TOMBOY. It is under Applications > Accessories.

TOMBOY is simple enough to use it over and over again for all kinds of quick notes and brainstorming. But it is also smart enough to LINK all your notes to one another, keep a good list of them, allow you to search through them, and even format them in enough ways to do the job.

For example, I have just created a series of notes about the E-books I'm planning to write within the next 6 months. So I have created a note for the general list (lower bottom in the screenshot) as well as separate notes for each e-book (see the one for Article Marketing on top-right).

Currently these notes include only a rough outline of the things I'd like to cover eventually. For example, if I need to go interview someone or read a book on a certain topic, I can create separate notes for them as well and LINK them to which ever spot I want.

UBUNTU made Tomboy links so easy. You just SELECT the text you want and then press Ctrl+L -- bingo! You have a NEW note not only titled as such but also automatically linked to your selected text in the ORIGINAL note.

What's more, when you change the TITLE of your note, the TEXT in the ORIGINAL note which is linked to this one also changes to preserve the paths. This way you do not need to worry about those pesky broken links when you change the titles of your notes. Good thinking!

UBUNTU... an amazing and very user-friendly free solution for all creatives around the world.

USPS: "Is The Correct English On Their Sign?"

I stopped by at the U.S. Post Office this morning and saw this big sign on the wall:

"Metered Mail Customers: IS THE CORRECT DATE ON YOUR METERED MAIL?"

This sentence would've been grammatically correct only if someone was asking if the "correct date" actually read "ON YOUR METERED MAIL".

An analogous sentence would be "Is the apple green?", or "Is the world round?"

I guess someone was trying to say:

1) "Metered Mail Customers: DO YOU HAVE THE CORRECT DATE ON YOUR METERED MAIL?"

or

2) "Metered Mail Customers: IS THE DATE ON YOUR METERED MAIL CORRECT?"

or

3) "Metered Mail Customers: DOES YOUR METERED MAIL HAVE THE CORRECT DATE?"

How did they find the only sentence combination that was not correct and display it prominently where everyone can see it?

I guess you need a governmental committee to achieve a feat like that.

Misplaced Modifier – Even WSJ Falls For It

“Misplaced modifier” is a frequently committed logical error that even the most prominent publications fall for occasionally. Here is an example:

“Ports are especially vulnerable to pesky animals like rabbits and deer because they offer large, fenced-in areas of dirt and grass.” (Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2007)

The sentence is malformed because it suggests that “pesky animals… offer large, fenced-in areas of dirt and grass” -- which of course is not true.

That unintended implication is created because the modifier clause “because they offer large, fenced-in areas of dirt and grass” is placed right after “pesky animals like rabbits and deer” instead of the “ports,” the true subject that needs the modification.

Solution?

Move the modifier clause right next to the subject of the sentence:

“Since they offer large, fenced-in areas of dirt and grass, ports are especially vulnerable to pesky animals like rabbits and deer.”

Or

“Ports that offer large, fenced-in areas of dirt and grass are especially vulnerable to pesky animals like rabbits and deer.”

Both would work. Case closed. Confusion prevented.

Google Page Creator - “Small Design Stuff” Leads to Frustration

Google has a not-so-bad web site design and hosting service called Google Page Creator. And it's FREE!

I've been using this free service since April 2006 for my own web site www.writer111.com

That is of course not its original URL but I have directed my own domain name to point at http://writer111.googlepages.com/ which is the real URL.

For web sites that do not need frequent updating this service is just great.

But it has one small design flaw that I'm surprised Google's really smart engineers and design team still have not discovered it.

When you are in Gmail, there is no easy way to get back to your Google Page Creator.

Almost every Google service imaginable is one easy click away from Gmail EXCEPT the “Pages” and I have no idea why.

For example, when you are looking at your Gmail main page, you see both a number of links up on the top of your page and also additional links on your drop down list under “more”.

But NONE of those links include “Pages”.

So how do you get to your web site design module if you are in Gmail?

First, you navigate BACK to www.google.com (by clicking the WEB link on top) while you are still signed in to your Gmail account, which then takes you to your main standard Google page.

There, you will notice the all-important MY ACCOUNT link on upper right.

When you click on MY ACCOUNT, that's where you will see the PAGE CREATOR link listed and NOWHERE ELSE.

Click that and voila! you'll be in your web site design module.

Why Google cannot include the PAGE CREATOR link either in the Gmail page top links or inside the “more” drop-down list is a mystery. But the first time you try to go from Gmail to “Page Creator” you will discover what a navigational feat it is. And the more you take that annoying detour, the more you realize how such very simple design flaws end up creating a totally frustrating user experience.

Small things... take care of the “small stuff” and the “larger stuff” will automatically take care of itself.

Know Thyself, and while you are at it...

"If you know yourself and your enemy, you will not fear battle.

"If you know yourself but not your enemy, you will lose a battle for every one that you win.

"If you do not know yourself and do not know your enemy, you will never see victory."

~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Watch Out for That Pen Name

Pen names are a long-honored tradition in Western literature. Sydney Porter wrote under the pen name “O. Henry.” Samuel Langhorne Clemens became famous as “Mark Twain.”

But you have to watch out these days if you are writing under a pseudonym. Especially if Hollywood is interested in your work.

Exhibit A -- A writer named "JT Leroy" catapults to stardom in 2000 with his explosive autobiography “Sarah,” the story of a kid growing up as the son of a West Virginia hooker turning tricks in truck stops.

It gets better – Soon JT Leroy is writing for the New York Times and Vanity Fair and calling the likes of Winona Ryder an Madonna his “friends.”

And better – In 2003, Antidote International Films Inc. (which produced movies like “Laurel Canyon” and “Thirteen”) options “Sarah” for $15,000 with the intention of turning it into a movie. The option is renewed next year for the same amount.

Then, the sky caves in – New York Times discloses that “JT Leroy” is nothing more than a pen name for Laura Albert, a mother and a little-known young novelist from Brooklyn Heights.

Result – Antidote wants all its money back since they made a contract with “JT Leroy” but Leroy does not exist.

Big mess. The case is still in court.

UPDATE (6/23/07)

Jury: novel bought by company fraudulent

By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press WriterSat Jun 23, 4:57 AM ET

To writer Laura Albert, her alter ego was a psychological necessity, but to jurors, the fictitious male prostitute JT LeRoy was a fraud. A Manhattan jury decided Friday that Albert had defrauded a production company that bought the movie rights to an autobiographical novel marketed as being based on LeRoy's life.

The federal jury, after a short deliberation, awarded $116,500 to Antidote International Films Inc.

The Art of Great Headlines

Writing great headlines is a true art. Some people I suspect are born with the knack of whipping up drop-dead perfect headlines at the drop of a hat. But then, to some extent, writing good headlines can be taught and learned as well.

Here is one time-tested venerable principle: make sure that your verb is somehow organically related to the core character, the main characteristics of the subject of the sentence, but it should be used in a DIFFERENT context.

Take for example this great headline by the New York Times (June 13, 2007):

"Casinos Go All In To Draw Asians" ... Perfect!

"Going all in" is a poker term and represents a situation in which a player risks everything. The writer could have said "Casinos Pull All Stops To Draw Asians"... or "Casinos Risk It All To Draw Asians" but it would not be the same. It would not have the same punch and the same juice.

Here the action phrase "going all in" is perfectly related to the "casinos." It is also used not in its traditional context of poker but in a new context of marketing. That unexpected cognitive shift injects power to the expression while still closely keeping our attention riveted to the gambling framework.

Contrast this power headline with a very weak one used by the Wall Street Journal again (by sheer coincidence?) to open a gambling story in its June 13, 2007 issue:

"What Happens in Vegas, Goes to China" (hello?)

We of course know where this headline is coming from -- it's a cutesy word play on the Vegas marketing slogan "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas."

But to be aware of this "trick" is not enough to understand what the story is really about. What does it mean something "Going to China"? What is it that goes to China? It is not immediately clear.

For example, this lazy echo of a well-known slogan justifies us to wonder if "extramarital affairs" started in Vegas end up "in China" somehow? It misdirects our attention.

Then we read the accompanying subheader: "$2.2 Billion Casino Resort Is Part of New Push in Cotai To Lure Gamblers, Travelers"

O-kay... now we see what the header was talking about.

But if a header needs a subheader to be understood, then it is failing in its primary function of immediately communicating the core summary of the news story. Otherwise why open a story with a header at all?

More on this topic later on, with more practical tips for writing great headlines...

Screenwriting – Write Your Movie Backwards

Did you know that Dave Chase, the genius behind The Sopranos series, has visualized that shocking very last scene [screen going black for 10 seconds] a full three years ago? He carried that ending with him for three years. He must have realized the power of configuring his ending well in advance to settle the issue three years in advance.

Many successful movies would not add up to anything without their strong endings. Every scene is shaded and nuanced by the ending in one way or the other. As an art form with its own limitations, screenplays really are anchored by their last scenes.

Imagine, for example, the “Sixth Sense.” And think about its unexpected ending. Could any of the earlier scenes make any sense if the ending was different? Of course not.

Here is the “Ugur Akinci Method” (ahem!) of writing a screenplay without too much pain (“some pain” is unavoidable of course):

Here is the "Ugur Akinci Method" (ahem!) for writing a screenplay without too much pain ("some pain" is unavoidable of course):

1. First decide on what your ENDING will be.

2. Think your way backwards, all the way to the beginning of your script. Try to see the whole movie playing from beginning to the end in that little movie screen on the inside of your forehead.

3. Chop your story into 18 to 25 sequences.

4. Divide each sequence into 3 to 5 scenes.

5. Sit down and write the whole thing as quickly as possible from start to finish, without stopping for any reflection or self-criticism. The minute you stop and start "thinking" about it you will freeze forever and never get done.

6. Once you finish your 100 to 120 pages, you can re-write, edit and polish to your heart's content. Writing is rewriting. But "writing" -- and not the "rewriting" -- comes first.

Importance of Designing Simple Things Well

Good design is invisible. It works beautifully, seamlessly, does the job without a whimper.

Bad design, on the other hand, is everywhere! It sticks out like a pair of brown shoes under a black tux. It is in-your-face obvious.

The PT Cruiser that I have rented for the week made me realize once again how our daily lives get complicated for no other reason than bad design.

First, the window power buttons. Everyone who gets into a PT Cruiser searches for the window buttons in vain. Why? Because the designers of PT decided it would be a really “cute” idea to place all four window controls on the center of the dashboard!

So when you approach a gate toll and when you need to roll down your window in a hurry, don't panic. Just think about all the time and energy that went into an “innovation” that neither works nor is needed, and have some compassion.

Second, if you need to pop open your trunk lid from inside for easy loading and unloading of your grocery bags, forget about it. There is no pop-up button like you would have in 90% of all cars these days, that little and very useful button somewhere in the lower left side of the steering wheel.

You need to get down and insert your key into the trunk lock and open it manually every time you need to open your trunk. How's THAT for convenience?

And thirdly, watch out for the key itself because the PT designers placed the PANIC button right on the key, exactly where you would be grabbing it to unlock your doors and your trunk.

The result? On various occasions throughout the day you activate your car alarm without intending to. And if that is happening inside the tight space of an underground garage, the effect is all the more embarrassing and ear-splitting of course.

As American car manufacturers are wondering why Japanese and South Korean car makers are taking over the American market they should really pay attention to all these small things that either don't work or work with unpleasant results.

It's time they realize that “cute” is not always “friendly.”

Perhaps by taking such “design risks and challenges” they are trying to take a road less traveled and discover some new “aesthetic ground.”

Yet they should also remember what Jerry Seinfeld said about the matter: “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.”