My Dancing Shoes

After writing a midterm paper about shoes, I've got them on the brain. There are definitely a couple pairs out there that I crave and can't afford, but my favorite footwear in the world is sitting in the closet waiting for warmer weather. My pair of Earth Footwear sandals is definitely the most comfortable thing I ever worn on my feet. The sole conforms exactly to the bottom of my foot and distributes the weight evenly. The heel is also lower than the rest of the foot, which forces me to stand up straighter. Plus I like the blue color (unlike the picture).

All love of shoes aside, what's the deal with comfort? Another comfort trend is desks, which constantly being modified to be nicer to the user, even after long hours of work. Both shoes and desks get a lot of use every day... so why wasn't comfort the top, or one of the top, design considerations? With shoes it's easy to understand: thin soles and high heels are so attractive, but inherently uncomfortable. Maybe if we're not walking too much, it's more fun to go with something pretty and deal with the blisters later. Plus most comfortable shoe companies don't start designing with me in mind: they have people with serious knee and back pain in mind, who probably aren't as picky about appearance as long as it makes their life a little less painful. My thought on desks is that they are designed for the things you put on them, rather than for you, so you have to add stuff to fix it for you. I always want plenty of space to spread out, easy access to computer cables, a place to stack notebooks... but after a few close calls with carpal tunnel, my desk also needs to let me type unhindered. The best way for me to fix the desk is to rearrange and buy a pad to rest my arms on, forcing me to fit to the desk. While it's not too hard to me to adjust myself to the desk, that system doesn't work for shoes.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like comfort needs to move higher up on the list. I refused to consider Earth shoes for a long time because their initial product looked terrible, but they're great. In order for comfort to move up on the list, appearance moved down. With desks, comfort was replaced by utility. While there's plenty to be said for a desk you can use and shoes you like, I'm all for thinking about comfort a little more and trying not to sacrifice other stuff when you do design for comfort. Comfort is like intuitive design for your body, and while we spend plenty of time trying to create intuitive interfaces and controls, we don't seem to spend as much on comfort. I also feel that much of human factors defines the limits of what humans can use without negative effects, but don't focus on the positive ones. I could just be going through my favorite shoe withdrawal, but I need a little comfort in design.