Samsonite make some very nice bags and suitcases, as do a lot of other bag companies. But similar to my post about beautiful lamps and their power cables (read here), bag straps are another neglected item. Designers go to great lengths to create beautifully crafted bags and then
slap on a strap
at the last minute. That’s what is seems like anyway…
There are a couple issues with shoulder bag straps.
1) As you can see in the photos, once you put your bag down, the strap loses all structure and just flops to the floor. So it is not just the bottom of your bag that picks up all the dirt from the floor, but also your strap. Then you put it on your shoulder/clothes.. I hope that’s not an Armani jacket you’re wearing… (Armani)
2) The issue with slapping on a strap at the last moment, is that is does not receive the same amount of love that the bag received throughout the design process. Beautifully crafted products stir up emotions in people, form gives pleasure, but a slapped on strap is simply functional. Utilitarian. It breaks the emotional journey you intended to take the user on.
3) Another issue with shoulder bags is how all of the weight is placed on a single shoulder. But of course nobody wants to wear a backpack while wearing business clothes (nobody with any class that is… you know who you are…hehehe), so we soldier on with our single strap bags. Switching from shoulder to shoulder as we cannot bear the weight any longer. But I digress, as this is actually a different issue with bags than the one we are discussing in this particular post.
(If there are any bag manufacturers out there looking for a strap that can distribute the load across both shoulders, just give me a shout, I have a patent pending bag strap that does just that. (blatant plug)).
So with the thousands of bags that are produced every year, there are thousands of straps that are simply slapped on.
Designers, if you love your product, you’ll love the strap too…because it’s the same thing,
it is all THE PRODUCT!
Citizenrod | art | design | think