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Panasonic Designed Human Blinders To Block Out Open-Plan Office Distraction (curbed.com)

Posted by msmash on from the not-the-onion dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Open plan offices, once the darling of design, are now showing their fault lines. To get a little bit of personal space, we've come up with all sorts of solutions, from phone booths to furniture designed to create a sense of privacy. All of those ideas seem totally, completely normal compared to this new project from Panasonic. The tech company's Future Life Factory design studio partnered with Japanese fashion designer Kunihiko Morinaga to develop an open-plan solution to end all open-plan solutions. Say hello to Wear Space. Wear Space is, for lack of a better description, like equine blinkers for humans. The strip of flexible material wraps around the back of the head and covers the side of the eyes, blocking up to 60 percent of a wearer's peripheral vision, Panasonic says. Think of it as a sign for potential bothersome coworkers that broadcasts, "I'm busy."

36 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. it is a sign alright. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I am someones workhorse."

    1. Re:it is a sign alright. by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 2

      To that, I say Neigh!

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  2. Open office planform is a bad idea by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Once the darling of design" is right. Actual research shows that the "open office" idea, with no privacy at all, is a terrible idea for a workplace, which maximized distractions and minimized getting things done.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by OzPeter · · Score: 2

      "Once the darling of design" is right. Actual research shows that the "open office" idea, with no privacy at all, is a terrible idea for a workplace, which maximized distractions and minimized getting things done.

      The cubicle *was* the reaction to the open office plan. Looks like we are finally going full circle.

      On the other hand I think Panasonic has it wrong. They should have opted for full on VR headsets where you can map in all your work spaces plus any background that you like.

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    2. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Informative

      Labor costs far exceed rent, unless you're hiring warm bodies to staff a phone bank.

      For any sort of tech, saving 50% of rent, but losing 10% of productivity is a huge loss.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    3. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by turbidostato · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "For any sort of tech, saving 50% of rent, but losing 10% of productivity is a huge loss."

      Maybe. But, then, you are looking at it the wrong way.

      How do you measure the 10% lost productivity, specially when your whole industry has made it the standard? I'll tell you: nobody will measure this.

      Then, how do you measure the savings you get by packing your employees like cows? Again, I'll tell you: just look at the rent bills.

      So, what do you think bean-counting minds will push forward? I'll tell you about that too: just look around.

    4. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      Metrics are hard, that is true. There is no substitute for technically competent management.

      If your bean counters or sales weasels are in charge of your engineering, you've already lost. But 'good news', they won't know you stopped working and spend 8+ hours/day networking for a new job. Just game whatever broken metrics they are using.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    5. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by ZorinLynx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hell, it goes back to the 1950s and 60s. I've seen photos of offices from the 50s and 60s, and everybody is working on one large room, on small desks like a classroom. And they're using typewriters; which are annoying and loud. Imagine what a horrible work environment that was.

      Cubicles were invented for a reason. We wouldn't have them if open plans worked, because the logical progression is so try open plan first (since it's cheapest), learn that it doesn't work, then try cubicles.

    6. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by Dragonslicer · · Score: 2

      Maybe after this fails, people will actually remember how terrible it is and not do it again. Maybe.

      Haha, good one.

    7. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by thePsychologist · · Score: 2

      You're right, Libre Office is probably better.

      --
      "What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
    8. Re:Open office planform is a bad idea by torkus · · Score: 2

      You're reading some interesting studies but they don't agree with reality and the space planning that larger companies actually are doing.

      Open seating does have more space dedicated to conference rooms but the space per employee is still less. To the point that many open seating plans are capacity limited by fire or health codes (such as population vs bathroom or vs fire escape/evacuation capacity).

      If not for those limitations, there would be even more people crammed in.

      It's certainly a fad, but it's embraced by senior management because real estate is an expensive, largely fixed cost for companies so the only way they can show savings is by making more efficient use of it. It's spoken about under the guise of better collaboration, and all that jazz but, excluding the few teams or departments that actually NEED constant collaboration, it's really a cost saver first and foremost.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
  3. Re:I have a better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "I’ve found that nothing beats good noise-cancelling headphones. Haven’t seen anything better yet."

    Try walls... walls are MUCH better than headphones.

  4. An even better idea by Confused · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I’ve found that nothing beats good noise-cancelling headphones. Haven’t seen anything better yet.

    Have you tried an office with privacy? That's even better than noise-cancelling headphones.

      I guess the corporate world isn't ready for such a radical and innovative idea yet. Human horse blinders will have to do for now.

  5. Inovation comes from the meek, not the speak by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Open office designs are just stupid.
    Mostly the bosses who are these big extroverts (who also seem to have their own office) who thrive on personal interaction, debates and general open communication, think these open offices are great ideas, and they tend to look nice also with a lot of light and non-braking spaces. However the people who come up with the ideas and solutions tend to be the introverts, who need to sit quietly, think, plan and work out the details. These are are just rooms of noise, confusion and just a lot of bluster.

    Real offices with doors are the best, Shared offices with one other person comes in second, third are high walled cubes, then short walled cubes and finally open office designs as the productivity killer.

    While the boss and investors love to see an office that seems busy like a factory floor. vs a hallway of dead silence. In reality with everyone quite and working, things are getting done.
     

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Inovation comes from the meek, not the speak by eth1 · · Score: 2

      Open office designs are just stupid.
      Mostly the bosses who are these big extroverts (who also seem to have their own office) who thrive on personal interaction, debates and general open communication...

      Yeah, and I have Asperger's, so an open plan office is essentially a "hostile work environment" for me. This is going to be fun in a few weeks, when I'm moving to a different team at work - there are NO areas whatsoever that are acceptable to anyone on the Autism spectrum anywhere near where I'll be moving to. Since Asperger's is considered a disability under the ADA, it's going to be interesting to see what happens when I point this out... Offices here are "VP+ only", and even if they put me in one (or put in one cubicle), I'd have to deal with a constant stream of "how come YOU get an office/real cubicle" 500 times/day.

    2. Re:Inovation comes from the meek, not the speak by Cederic · · Score: 2

      I have Aspergers and prefer open plan offices.

      It's the cunts with audible email warnings or that stand right behind me having a private conversation at public speaking volumes that cause problems, and they're cunts in any office.

      Open plan lets me see more, engage more socially, hear more about my colleagues and their work without actually having to try and talk to them. It's bloody useful.

  6. I could've sworn... by Mascot · · Score: 2, Informative

    ... we already had this problem solved. Once upon a time, there was a thing called "an office". Where you walked to your door and closed it when you needed to work without interruption.

    It is only remembered now by its distant cousin, the "home office".

  7. Open concept homes too by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

    HGTV has inspired a fad in housing where everyone wants to see everything in their house from the kitchen. You HAVE to be able to see everything inside the house from the kitchen, or your house is DATED. So they knock down interior walls and spend big bucks adding support structures to make the house one gigantic room.

    I'm just waiting for some idiot on HGTV to take it a step further and put all the bathrooms in the same gigantic uni-room as the rest of the house. Walls are bad!

    1. Re: Open concept homes too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Isn't that what the window in the oven is for?

  8. Feed Bag? by sycodon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All they need is a Feed Bag and the transformation is complete.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  9. I spent 10 years in the military, then 10 more... by TigerPlish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...in cubeland. Proper cubes, with walls all around and a space for entry/exit.

    In the intervening years, the open office made a comeback. ..how?! Why?! Oh dear god why? I thought this was dead and buried in the 70's / 80's? WTF happened?

    I hate it, more than I have words for. I see new workspaces built as such and I cringe.

    Good thing is where I'm currently at they've seen the light and are planning on a proper cubefarm.. ...never did I think I'd be celebrating the cube, yet here we are.

    I did have an office once. For six glorious years. No window, but it had a roof, four walls and a proper door. I miss that, more than any work environment I've *ever* been at.

    --
    The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
  10. Office livestock solutions by ChromeAeonuim · · Score: 2

    This has got to be the stupidest thing I have seen in a good long while. First, some unthinking drone creates a problem (open offices), and then, instead of recognizing the source of the problem and addressing it with something that was invented literally thousands of years ago (walls, real novel concept there) someone comes up with whatever the hell these things are.

    This thing reminds me of the blinders you put on animals to keep them from getting stressed when you are transporting them. That's what this is. This is the bag you put over a bird's head or the muzzle you put on a pissed off cat to keep them in the dark. This is just an amazingly insulting 'solution' to an amazingly stupid, intentionally created problem.

  11. Head cubicles from Dilbert by Zarhan · · Score: 3

    I thought these were thought of more than 20 years ago...

    http://dilbert.com/strip/1996-...

  12. ObDilbert by Cyrano+de+Maniac · · Score: 2

    Sounds like Panasonic owes Scott Adams some royalties:

    http://dilbert.com/strip/1996-...

    --
    Cyrano de Maniac
  13. Ingenues. Wait...wut? by forkfail · · Score: 5, Funny

    But - I thought that the whole purpose of the open office was to facilitate communication.

    How can this be a good idea?

    Unless... it was never about communication and collaboration at all, but about the cost of office space.

    But how could that be?

    "I literally just can't..."

    --
    Check your premises.
  14. A good punishment for complaining. by Seor+Jojoba · · Score: 3

    If you complain too much at work about open plan distractions ruining your productivity, you'll see a pair of these on your desk and wish you hadn't said anything.

  15. Re:I have a better idea by HornWumpus · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure I speak for all of /. when I say: 'Fuck you for putting that mental image into my mind!'

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  16. Like this! [Re:Ingenues] by XXongo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just like this!
    https://beta.theglobeandmail.c...

  17. There's a word for this... by zarmanto · · Score: 2

    This product doesn't actually solve any of the real problems associated with open plan offices, which essentially makes this product all but useless in the real world. The word for these types of products is Chindogu, and there is an incredible variety of similarly useless products, easily discoverable for those who're familiar with the proper search term.

    The only real question is, did Panasonic knowingly engage in designing a Chindogu product, or were they duped into marketing this particular example of the art form, outside of the limits of its traditional (predominantly Japanese) target audience?

  18. Re:Ingenues by codemaster2b · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://dilbert.com/strip/1996-...

    --
    And over there we have the labyrinth guards. One always lies, one always tells the truth, and one stabs people who ask t
  19. Need to Rein this in a bit by Justathot · · Score: 2

    The next innovation will be a set of ribbons - possibly made of stylish leather - leading from the sides of the blinders to the boss' desk, allowing him/her to pull your head left or right to direct you to different work, depending on what direction s/he wishes you to go in next.

  20. Re:Ingenues. Wait...wut? by lgw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Open plan offices aren't actually any cheaper, because you need more meeting rooms. Open plan offices serve only one goal: management hates you and wants you to be unhappy.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  21. Re:Not a new idea by burningcpu · · Score: 2

    "Rick! Hey Rick! Rick! Rick! Heyyyy Rick! Earth to Rick!"

    -- Shoulder tap --

    "That's a hilarious 'Do not Disturb' flashing light on your head, man! Where'd you get it? OMG that reminds me of this Sportball thing that happened this weekend! Can you believe they aren't standing for the National Anthem? OMG, so what do you think of this weather? Crazy right???"

    "Oh, I'm probably bugging you, and with you wearing that stupid hat! Sorry about that! So anyway, did you hear about what Francine from accounting said to Bill from QA?...."

  22. Re:Ingenues. Wait...wut? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Every time someone says "it's about principles", it's about money.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  23. Re:Ingenues. Wait...wut? by plopez · · Score: 2

    I used to quite pointedly wear a pair of orange hearing protectors. It helped but management never got a clue.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  24. Re:I have a better idea by Cederic · · Score: 2

    While I agree with your approach it's sadly illegal to throw large bricks at idiot colleagues.