The Dyson Vacuum from a Designer's Perspective
I have vacuumed with pleasure for a couple of weeks now having purchased a Dyson vacuum cleaner. Yes I know – how very designer and yuppie of me to buy a cooky-looking designer vacuum but you must know I avoided purchasing a Dyson so not to fall prey to what I thought was simply creative aesthetics and great marketing. My wife and I discussed the need for a proper vacuum for some time when, after struggling to keep up with hair from two fury friends and the dust of an old drafty house with a shop vac (which I might add I thought was a smart buy at $35) we broke down and visited the local Home Depot hardware store to pick up a real vacuum.
Enter purchase #1 the Dirt Devil Reaction Dual Cyclonic. As a general rule I arm myself with information from the usual suspects – customer reviews, gadget blogs where appropriate and amazon reviews before heading to a brick and mortar but this time we went for the gusto and did not. We gave each of the vacuums a good look from top to bottom, immediately eliminating those we felt were inferior and then pulled those making it to elimination round 2 to the floor for close examination. The Dyson was not a part of this second group because I felt that, though I was intrigued with the Dyson, I wouldn’t fall prey to its interesting design and lovely packaging. In the end, we moved the contestants around, flipped them over, kicked the wheels a bit and again eliminated those we felt were poorly crafted or possessed a particularly stupid design feature. We ended up with the Dirt Devil. Though it wasn’t the most expensive of the models at the store it stood out to us as the best choice.
After a couple of weeks living with the Dirt Devil and making excuses for its inadequacies such as the poor placement of its chord, the design of its hose extension (maybe it would work for a 10 inch human) and the fact that it simply did not pick all the dirt off of our hardwood floors (no carpet in our place) we did some research online and were moved to exchange the Dirt Devil for a Dyson. One huge benefit of buying such items from the “big box” retailers of the world is that such transactions can be made with ease whereas had we purchased the Dirt Devil online we would probably still be living with a mess.Onto the Dyson. Our first experience with the Dyson, its packaging, was an immediate indication of the thought that went into it and the superiority of its design. Besides the fact that the graphic design and finish of the box is lovely, it has a handle. Imagine that. People buy vacuums, which are awkward in size and then carry them to the checkout, to a vehicle and then most likely into their home. Dyson thought about this use scenario and included a handle which, though seemingly simple made a significant difference.Our second experience with the Dyson – its unpacking and assembling was also a pleasure. There were no bolts and screws with ill-designed instructional material rather the Dyson unpacked from the box neatly and was assembled with ease and without a single bolt. This process was also supported with clear, intuitive instructional material. Again, Dyson was thorough in considering the out of box experience and extended the principals of their brand into each of the user’s interaction with the product. Very well done. Many manufacturers miss the opportunity to please the user with their purchase by effectively designing the out of box experience (Apple is another one that comes to mind as exemplary in this area).
The final and ongoing experience with the Dyson is more of the same. Each feature of the vacuum is designed with purpose and with the user in mind. The chord is in the right place so I am not always running over it, the hose extension is designed for an actual biped human that moves around upright, it is crazy easy to clean (and it disassembles easily to clear any blocking of the tubing), its wheels glide nicely over the floor and it is hands-down the most effective actual vacuum (meaning it picks everything up) I have used.
The moral of this story is not only to buy a Dyson should you be in the market for a vacuum cleaner but that thorough human-centered design coupled with effective engineering to meet the needs of the task balanced with the needs of the user and effective branding, graphic, literature and package design make the Dyson experience exceptional. Great design is not simply a polished appearance (that is craft) but a holistic approach to the entire user experience with the product be it a web interface, car, jacket, computer, whatever.
Do you sneeze during or just after vacuuming?
francine
Jeremy, what a fabulous article about your vacuum cleaner experience and the Dyson. I’m always thinking about product usability, too, so I could especially relate to all that you wrote.
I’m truly impressed with the Dyson from the ads I’ve seen and from checking it out further at their site. but I’m even more impressed after reading what you wrote about it. I’m not in the market for a new vacuum at the moment, but I’m definitely considering a Dyson when I do need a new one.
I’ve been using a Hoover upright for a few years now that won all the best ratings from Consumer Reports at the time, and I’ve been quite pleased with it. It was fairly expensive, but it was worth it.
It sounds like the Dyson truly is superior in many ways, though.
Thanks for writing such a fabulous article on all this. If you haven’t shared your experience with Dyson, I’m sure they’d love to know about what you wrote here!
shirley kaiser
i’ve got one too for a few years now and it’s still working great!! congrats!!
DannyBunny
Hello. I’m sorry, but this is about the dyson vac. I bot it at zellers in fergus, ontario about 3 months now. I have to say I’m very disappointed with it’s performance. I vaccum with it and I can go over with my 69 dollars up right and get dirt from it. When I have it on bare floor it just pushes the dirt in front of it, or I lift the front of it and get the stuff that way. I have a cleaning bus. and I was hoping for the best job that I could do with this vaccum. I am very upset with the way it works. Dianne Vane
dianne vane
Sounds like the Duyson is a good buy. Better than most of the junk that tries to pass as vacuums these days. But as someone who has fixed vacuums for a couple of years, my money would still go to Miele. However, if the price was right, I might change my mind… Thanks for the information. One question: how is the post motor filtration? Most vacuums come with an electrostatic filter instead of a HEPA, but the ES filters allow too much carbon dust back into the air.
Shawn Anderson
Well I didn’t have the same experience with Dyson. If I may, please look into Miele S5980 canister. German engineering and very high quality. I guess I may have gotten a lemon but my old Dyson (animal) was in the shop 2 times. Once for a broken belt and bearing. I had a tough time accessing the belt and the other time it was the actual motor that was not working at optimal performance. I guess the motor was bad according to the shop so I just let them have the Dyson (well they gave me $100 for it) and bought a Miele S5980 that works so well. I mean INCREDIBLY well. But yes it costed a ton of loot but I have two dogs and two cats so I needed something that will work good and last forever. I think Miele has some less expensive canisters that are worth looking into. But i can not agree with the Dyson. And the bagless? Not a good idea. Besides why does Dyson release a new model so often? But to each their own. I can not recommend a Dyson vac. Miele I will endorse, its an amazing machine that works.
tiana
I have to agree with Tiana.
I have always liked canister type vacs but, I thought I would give Dyson a try. Well for the price of a dish washer I now have a vacuum I hate. To make matters worse the belt broke, I thought no big deal i will just get a new belt. No, think again, I have to take it in and buy a whole knew belt assembly clutch and have an authorized dealer fix it. That is if I can find one in my area! I can say with experience, Don’t waist your money! If I felt like I could afford it I would also buy a Miele.
Astar