Dear Dell: Who designed this remote?

Clearly the work of a Product Manager who has never given a presentation, the remote for the projector in one of our conference rooms:

The buttons you really use on this remote – every time you advance or page back through your slides – are the two TINY buttons located at about 10 O’clock to the round button in the center. (Click on the picture for a close up view.)

I have utterly no idea what most of the buttons on this remote do – but I can tell you that the two that ought to be large and positioned in a manner that using them is intuitive – are crammed over on one side of the remote, one right on top of the other. How anyone can include this sort of design with a $1000+ projector is beyond me.

By contrast, look at the $45 Kensington “wireless presenter with laser pointer:”

Right button: forward. Left button: back. Front button with red graphic: laser pointer. Back button: blank screen. Plus the USB receiver stores in the remote when not in use!

We ordered another of these today to use instead of the Dell remote in that particular conference room.  There is no substitute for thoughtful, intelligent design – good design makes life easier and more enjoyable; bad design sucks the life out of you.

Have you encountered bad product design in the workplace – or at home? …please comment!