I recently moved and was nosing around the IKEA website when I noticed a bright red link at the bottom of the page entitled “IKEA Madness“. Curious, I decided to click on it and found myself looking at a page of Design Stories.

A number of designers’ heads were floating around in a way which reminded me of Miis in the Wii. Clicking on a head reveals a product related to that designer, and the story behind the design.

So in the case of the watering can it describes how the design drew inspiration from cans of sardines as a method of reducing empty space when the cans are stacked together. Whether or not this is actually how things came about (as most designers know) is up for debate, but it definitely helps to shed some light on the decisions which resulted in the final products.

Humor (see the icon animations and click on those little critters running around in the background) and nice sound design (after you select a head and then roll your mouse over it, someone says “shh” and the music fades out) make the sight memorable, while not impeding usability.

Interestingly, most of the design stories emphasize how good design saves money for the consumer—happy endings, in other words, to these IKEA design stories.