509. Bad Design of the Week.

1964 was a very exciting year in American history: The Beatles shook up New York City, Ford Mustang made its debut appearance, BLIMPIE opened up its first store in New Jersey, and the Sharpie marker pen was introduced.

Who doesn't love Sharpie? The name is snappy and cute. The iconic retro font conjures up happier Barbie and Playdough consumer days of the Sixties. It writes brilliantly (or hellishly) well on virtually any surface, and it comes in a rainbow of colors.

So, it is with a heavy heart and 2-sangrias-plus-1-margarita-fueled typing fingers (I just got back in from a fabulously fun and fashionable birthday party), I award Sharpie's Twin Tip design this week's Bad Design of the Week award.

Voilà. The Twin Tip Sharpie marker pen:

Oh my! Somebody needs to clean her grout!

If you are like me, an average human adult, you would place the cap of the pen on the opposite end in order to write. When you are finished, you would pull the cap off of the end and replace it on the right end. Right?

Wrong! Obviously, you and I are fools.

The pudding:

The fine tip end is now uncapped! Crap!

Unfortunately for humans, our fingers are no match for this beautiful cap-in-cap union. The only thing that can separate the two pen caps are a pair of Vise Grips.:

Was this design inspired by matrioshka, the
Russian nesting dolls?
No... Matrioshkas are better designed.
You don't need pliers to separate them
from their mothers.
Sorry for the long photo caption. Where were we?

Ah, yes...

Congratulations, Sharpie Twin Tip, for winning this week's Bad Design of the Week award.

...........
Barbie's font is awfully similar to that of Sharpie's--or the other way around, since Barbie is older.

...........
I'm tired. To bed with me.

Good night.