"When an object can be any shape or size, what shape or size should it be?"
I love following Jan Chipchase's Future Perfect blog. It documents an amazing level of ethnographic research that most companies simply don't have the luxury to participate in. The quote above is a closing slide in one of his presentations. It stuck me because of it's dual use as both a design meditation and a serious question designers of any product should be able to answer. It also begs the reverse question for existing design:
If this object could have been any shape or size, why did it end up like this?
(Via: Insight & Innovation: Design Research, Nokia Connection 2007 [ppt])