Design failure: kitsch notes

This item is kitsch façadism: it grabs attention by a superficial reference to something that has neither a functional nor a material relationship to the object itself. As a consequence of this, the item has obvious functional shortcomings. The photographic image on the paper interferes with the legibility of notes written in any colour ink due to reduced contrast. The irregular shape is expensive to die-cut and its negative spaces would be better used as writing space.

There is also something conceptually wrong with the design. My hand is the last place I wish to write a note. I'm using it because there is nothing better available. Why would I transfer the aspects of hands that are useless for writing – low-contrast, coloured surface, irregular shape – to an object that actually was good for writing notes on? That a hand is a funny old place to write notes even if it really is made of paper is interesting for one minute.

If you must insist on façadism in your design, make it convergent with the meaning of the object. The stack of adhesive notepaper below reminds the user about the relationship between paper as a finished product and its raw materials, perhaps encouraging moderation in its consumption. However, the woodgrain-printed surfaces still interfere with the legibility of written notes.