I’ve heard many times from Twitter users that if you are thinking about creating a new product, you should just pivot beforehand to create infrastructure for that product. While this advice ranges from serious to tongue-in-cheek, there is certainly some merit to this idea. There are thousands of new hardware and software products being created every year, each presenting the possibility to create supporting and spin-off products.
Some high-profile hardware examples are cooling products for quantum computing, electric car charging station networks, and even sustainable energy distribution for cryptocurrency mining operations. On the software side, storefront aggregation services like Etsy and Amazon, real estate sites like Zillow and Redfin, and code management services like GitHub and GitLab have all cropped up. All of these products were built on previous innovation, which does give some credence to designing “product-infrastructure products”, and also highlights how dynamic the product design space is and how important timing is for starting a new company.
And when you partake in one of my favorite games of “how design has affected the more mundane products in our lives,” you see that infrastructure products are actually everywhere. And even better than that, there are endless funny examples. To keep this article brief, here are ten examples of both mundane and funny products that were born out of designing infrastructure for other products (I would encourage you to think of your own since it’s such a fun exercise!):
Toilet Paper Roll Holder
They come in a ton of shapes and sized to accommodate different types of toilet paper, and we really only think about them when they are empty or broken. They have free-standing aesthetic models, wall-mounted industrial versions, and infinite other designs. Any product that is designed to support basic human needs, and (in this specific example) can be sold for over $100 is a product that I would like to sell.
Houseplant Pots
In general, houseplant pots and vases need to provide plants support and nutrition through water or soil and light. It’s a bit funny to think about houseplants as products, but there’s no doubt that pots and vases only exist as products since we display plants indoors. In my mind, I had convinced myself there was a Pokemon that is planted in a pot, but a cursory internet search has proven me wrong, so there’s no photo for this product.
Adhesive Furniture Pads
I’m convinced that some sort of anti-scratch furniture pads have existed since hard floors and furniture existed in the same buildings. I like to think that vikings used them on their ships, and the Romans used them in their marbled halls. Maybe they didn’t have adhesive backing in the olden days, but I’m sure they found a way to make furniture pads work.
Squeegees
Whether you’re cleaning windows or cleaning a shower door, squeegees are an essential tool. In fact, I wonder if lobbyists for water softener products are actively at war with squeegee companies. If not, they might want to get on that!
iPhone Cases
According to Statista, Apple currently sells ~200 MILLION iPhones every year. That is a jaw-dropping number. If you were to capture 0.01% of this market with phone case sales, you would sell ~20,000 phone cases, which could be an incredibly healthy business. For full transparency, this example was included because I was recently reminiscing about wanting to add a SkinIt cover to my Xbox 360 back in the day, around the time they started selling phone cases.
Gas Pump Handle
This is the closest example I have to an electric car charging network, so I had to include it.
Candy Dispensers
Loose candy dispensers have slowly lost their luster over time (particularly during COVID), even though you still might be able to find one at your local diner. As a kid, there was nothing better than getting a handful of Runts with a quarter from your parents, even though the risks of a topical disease were non-negligible. Nowadays, I’m only willing to take that risk for gumballs that go down cool slides.
Search Engines
Making it easy to find and access websites is a simple idea that has created one of the largest companies on the planet. Bing also exists.
Universal Remotes
Old-school universal remotes meant to conglomerate the controls for multiple devices like TVs, AV equipment, DVD players, and DVRs did consolidate the actual physical control, but also (at their peak) became some of the most busy and confusing consumer products very quickly. Without looking it up, I would hope that a more sleek, modern version has risen to prominence for the few universal remote users left.
Microwaveable Tupperware
As someone who has melted plastic in the microwave, exploded food all over it, and accidentally left spoons inside them, microwaveable tubberware is an essential piece in any kitchen. It’s a whole genre of thermoformed and injection-molded containers made with specific materials based purely on the invention of the microwave. I’d love to insert some 30 Rock-esque joke about GE here, but I’ll leave that to Tina Fey.
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