This is my office chair, which in my opinion is really comfortable, but would probably be heavily criticized by Galen Cranz. Having actually taken Galen’s class at UC Berkeley, I have a sense of what she would consider to be variables of good chair design. As an believer in the Alexander Technique, she spent her life advocating for positions that encourage natural spine shaped postures. Key takeaway being the desire for an S-shaped spine, she would criticize this chair as being suboptimal, positioning my spine in a C-shape for 8 hours a day. She would say that “sitting is the new smoking.” And while I find this chair very comfortable for the first few hours, I do have to agree that my lower back is not very happy with me by the end of the day. Because I am rather petite, I fit comfortably and sink into the cushions. But on the downside, it gives me lots of room horizontally to lean onto the armrests and thus often assuming a bad slanted posture. But, humans don’t always want what is best for them. I see a chair with thick cushion depth, a head rest, and a bouncy leanback, and I think “I love it!” In hindsight, after the reading, I should probably be more aware of how I sit in it, or sit on a yoga ball instead.
This is my home desk chair from college. I rarely use it because I never work at proper desks or tables at home, but I don’t have the heart to throw it out because it looks very comfortable. As I’ve said, I judge chairs by the cover based on how soft and thick the cushion looks. This one is not only that, but has further softened to the contours of my body since college. Again, I sink into it very well, which is perceived as a good thing, but actually very bad for my spine. Also, the desire for a headrest leads me to lean sideways onto an armrests. And like almost all chairs for me, I have plenty of room sideways and find myself habitually not sitting upright.
This is my couch which I bought on sale in college and use to brighten up my room. I spend most evenings on this couch because the width of the seat is exactly the length of my legs if I sit upright facing sideways. I have had this couch for many years and have fallen asleep in it many many nights after crawling home at before sunrise from the architecture studio in college. Not to sound like a broken record, but the cushion is very soft, and when paired with a pillow and blanket, feels very cozy. But I mostly use it to sink in and gradually enter a lying down position and never sit in it facing forward as one would with a normal couch. As a couch, it is probably not very comfortable and may feel way too small for 2 people despite being a loveseat. But being a small person, I love it as a couch/bed makeshift hybrid.
This is my seat in the car. Although it feels very comfortable in the first 5 minutes, this is the seat in my daily life that noticeably makes my lower back ache. Car seat designs are designed for the general population with very little range in the seat excluding the angle and height. From the manufacturer’s perspective, it is better to design and err on the bigger side so as to not exclude the population that is bigger, like a one-size-fits-all. And this makes total sense for them as manufacturers because it doesn’t alienate the smaller users. The smaller users will still buy the car and accept it as the norm across most brands. But, car seats leave my spine in a rounder C-shape than most other chairs and I should have a backrest or cushion to reverse the arch in my back.
This is one of the toilets I use in my day, but most toilets I use look the same anyway. I generally find the seats comfortable, effective, and simple. The only ones that have ever blown my mind are high tech toilets with seat warmers, but considering how few minutes in a day is spent sitting on a toilet, it makes little difference to me. My usual desire for a cushion or a backrest does not apply here, because, well, it’s a strictly business-only seat that probably shouldn’t be too comfortable to prevent other people from lingering…
This is the Philz Coffee chair I sit in to do homework on the weekends. I actually find it very comfortable. Because it is so small, it does not encourage me to lean sideways or fidget like a swivel chair. The height of the backrest minimizes my back from arching into a “C” and I find my posture straighter in this chair than most others, second only to my toilet posture. I find it easier to focus and sit for longer periods in this chair. This chair is also designed for their bar tables, and since I am relatively short, I work quite effectively without hunching over my laptop.
Thanks for sharing the chairs of your life, Christina. Hopefully you’re carrying out this class homework on the last chair. I marked some additional comments for certain parts of the car section which I didn’t fully understand. But I am curious to hear you say more about how brands here intersect with design. There are cars of other brands, sometimes which make specific smaller automobiles which other people might say is too constricted or more suitable for petite folks. But those same brands also impose other restrictions – like the trunk space etc., which need not depend on whether someone is petite or larger framed.