On Thu, 6 Jul 2017 05:06:49 -0000, wrote:

Does anyone care about a shape optimized 4 slice toaster or filing cabinet?

Yes, especially if the shape is optimized for a particular class of
customer. For example, women prefer rounded corners while men prefer
angular corners. A red toaster would not sell in the US because it
implies that the toast will be incinerated. In China, red means good
luck. In the west, making the slots wide enough to handle a bagel is
required. In other parts of the world, few have ever seen a bagel. To
a home user, a gaudy decorated toaster might be acceptable. To a
restaurant, it's difficult to keep clean. In short, there's no
optimum shape for a toaster.

Marketing types certainly do. Consumers have always bought toasters
based on their looks. After all, the thousands of different designs
all do the same thing.

And all look about the same.

Not so much:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/437412182539227477/

For any given era they look pretty much the same to me.
https://www.google.com/search?q=toaster&tbm=isch (tracking stuff deleted JL)

New designs are constantly appearing:
https://www.google.com/search?q=toaster+concept+designs&tbm=isch

This one looks promising:
https://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2012/01/zaffrantoaster1.jpeg.650x0_q70_crop-smart.jpg

The problem is that US consumers are easily bored and confused by
popular designs, especially if they are all at the same price level.
They find it difficult to differentiate the various offerings. One
might expect people to buy on the basis of specs, reviews, and
endorsements. Nope. They pick up the toasters and compare the
relative weights. When in doubt, anything that weighs the most must
be the better value or at least the most long lasting. Second best is
the buyers response to various subliminal messages imbedded in the
product, packaging, and advertising.

One of the major benefits of 3D printing is rapid prototyping. If rev
1.0 doesn't work quite right, rev 2.0 can quickly follow. That's
great if you don't know what you want or are into design by trial and
error. If you're trying to assemble something complicated, and are
not sure that everything will fit and work together, there's nothing
better than 3D printing. However, for manufacture, you probably want
many copies of the same item, all identical. The ability of the 3D
machinery to quickly customize or change the design is wasted on
mindless replication. Best to use the existing manufacturing
techniques, which are cheaper and faster.

Incidentally, I know four owners of various 3D printing machines. Two
are college students and two are hobbyists. Most of the time, the
machines are idle. The common comment is that the machine was not
what they had expected after reading all the hype. All of them have
2D XY plotters/cutters that are far more useful for making useful
things.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558