Designing new products that incorporate a high degree of usability is always problematic. Inevitably feature creep invades the design, and you end up with the VCR – a product that 90% of the population simply uses to record and view programmes. They never use the myriad of other features because the usability has not been factored into the product design.

The same design philosophy is seeping into DVD recorders – engineers packing a product with features that will never be used.

At the risk of sounding cliche, Apple is one company that bucks the trend by taking the complexity out of potentially complex products.

In a different sphere altogether is the grobag egg.

This is a digital thermometer designed for baby rooms which glows different colours depending on the temperature – from blue for cold through to red for hot (with two more gradients on the way).

Products with interfaces which are understood at-a-glance have a significantly better chance of success in the market.