In every product specification there are a plenty of design details that would make the product better, but are not really needed for providing the critical functionality. Not a must, nice to have, they say.
And in every product team, there are people who then need to implement these features, knowing that the typical user will never use the results of their work.
When you connect a trailer to our car and try to reverse, the parking radar warns about the fact that the rear sensors are not in use. Instead of the normal animation, a picture of a car with a trailer is shown on the screen.
I don’t know if this feature is available in every Korean car these days, but I am quite sure that the majority of car users will never experience it. Yet, when you do, it feels great to see that somebody somewhere has thought about a less common use case and managed to convince a cost-cutting manager that the idea should be implemented. It is what premium is made of.
The design award of the week goes to all designers and engineers who work on details that are rarely seen by the end user but give the product that last little touch of premium.
Nice to have, indeed.