--- url: https://floriankiem.com/writing/products-that-look-better-used title: "Products that look better used ‹ Florian Kiem" description: "Most products look best the day you unbox them. Some are designed the other way around, they collect dents, creases, and scratches, and get more interesting the longer they are in use." crawled_at: 2026-10-25T13:15:31Z lastmod: 2026-07-11 ask: https://floriankiem-com.ora.run/ask docs: https://floriankiem-com.ora.run/docs lang: en --- # Products that look better used July 11, 2026 ## Designed to age There was always something interesting in how some products we use every day look only better with time. Normally we'd assume that everything we buy, we buy because of how it looked initially. There are many examples for this, the iPhone that looks extremely well designed on Apple's website, the clean clothes models wear on fashion sites, or simply products we see when walking past them in showcases. There are some types of products and their materials which - I believe - make them look only better with time. I want to use this occasion to explore these products to find out the why behind this and what makes them look so much better when used. One suspicion upfront: wear works like evidence. It proves a product was part of someone's life, and some brands understood this so well that they even fake it. None of this is a new idea. In Japan it has a name, [wabi-sabi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi) , the beauty of imperfection and age. Fittingly, the sabi in it (寂) shares its reading with the word for patina and rust (錆). ### Aluminium luggage This is one of the best known examples: The Rimowa luggage. At the latest once you had to check it in for a flight you'll find scratches on it. After some time I realized how much I like this imperfect design - maybe because each detail represents a memory of a past experience. Fig 1: Rimowa's aluminium case - reminds of past travel experiences , ### Cosmetic tubes Aesop does a great job using shots of their products in a used state, rather than showing them perfectly. The pressed tubes look so much better, more natural. Even tho you can clearly see the imperfect version was rendered it still reminds me of myself using this product on a daily basis. Aesop is faking the evidence here, and it still works. Fig 2: Aesop's cream cleanser - a reminder of ones morning routine , ### Film cameras Another example are [auctions](https://www.leitz-auction.com/en/Leica-M-Cameras-Ian-Berry/AI-100-Jahre-30160) , of course. There are rare occasions where both things match up: The product looking used , and the perceived value through the object's history. It simply can't be true that an object has made memories of a lifetime and looks like new, thus the used look unconsciously adds supporting evidence in the story told about the object, no matter if true or not. Fig 3: A black paint Leica - brassing that records how it was held , ### Baseball gloves I chose baseball gloves as a representation for all things sport related. It doesn't necessarily need to look like value to others, the satisfaction when looking at used sportswear mostly only applies to one person - the person that actually was the user. If you play a sport for multiple years, it being part of your life, making memories, the tools used while executing it undeniably hold a special value to its owner. This also applies to footballs, t-shirts, even shoes or other things. Fig 4: A baseball glove - proof of the hours put in , ## Anti-examples There are also examples, and this perhaps makes up most of products we have in our world. I specifically want to take the time calling them out, because I think these are states of products you don't want to reach. ### Dirty shoes One of the biggest anti-signals out there are probably dirty sneakers. There's a level of dirtness of sneakers which I personally find acceptable, I'd say it's 10-15% on the dirtness scale. After that, I throw my shoes into the washing machine. I see worker boots as general exception if you're permanently working in an environment, but then these shoes are made to get dirty. Sneakers and many other kinds of shoes are not. I would even go as far as saying that shoes are one of the most important pieces of clothing one can wear. Fig 5: White sneakers - dirt that reads as neglect, not memories , ### Dirty keyboards There are things that shouldn't look used for hygienic reasons alone. First and foremost I'm talking about things that you use on a daily basis: Door handles, toilets, keyboards, all things food related. I chose keyboards as another example as this is one object many don't find necessary to clean. I regularly see keyboards from people I know that look absolutely disgusting. This mostly happens when eating in front of the screen and not using wet wipes to keep keyboards clean on a regular basis. It's the same mechanism as the Leica - an object slowly recording every touch. The only difference is whether we read that record as a story or as a health risk. Fig 6: A keyboard - grime that records touch, and disgusts , ## The why Looking back at all examples, I believe it comes down to three things. | Wear... | What it does | |---|---| | Stores memory | Each scratch maps to a moment of one's life. | | Signals truth | A used object proves it was worth using, which is why even the faked version still works on us. | | Personalizes | Two identical products leave the factory, but no two of them age the same way. | Mass production ends at the moment of purchase. ## The software bridge Software is an interesting one. It can't scratch or fade, so it seems like it doesn't belong in this article. It does. The same principles decide what we perceive as valuable in software. Think of software you're seeing ads from. The new iOS update, computer games, feature changelogs from your favorite social media platform. What do you see? Most of the time you will see inputs being filled with actual, natural data. Not empty, unused screens. No perfect alignments because mock data is clearly being used, no button previews that look like someone just opened a preview of a digital design system - no - you will see actual content that reminds you of yourself, how you could use this feature. Apple never shows an empty Messages app or empty activity rings, and [Linear's landing page](https://linear.app/) is full of half-done projects and open issues. The marketing version of software is always the used version. Fig 7: Linear's landing page - the product shown mid-use, never empty Fig 8: Apple's activity rings on iPhone - progress made visible, never shown empty Some products go one step further and turn the accumulated usage itself into the product. The GitHub contribution graph is a wear map - the digital version of the brassing on the Leica, proof of thousands of small touches, and developers show it off exactly like that. Spotify Wrapped does the same once a year, it takes the patina your listening left behind and hands it back to you as something to share. Duolingo streaks, Strava heatmaps - they all work because accumulated use is the most personal thing software can show you. I do a version of this on my own website: my runs page is a live feed of every run I track. It started empty and gets better with every run - a page that collects patina. Fig 9: My GitHub contribution graph - a year of use made visible Used means something different here of course - software doesn't wear down, it fills up. Content is the digital patina. Software therefore undeniably looks better when used (or better said, not empty). 1 Rimowa case, new: [rimowa.com](https://www.rimowa.com/us/en/luggage/colour/silver/cabin-s/97352004.html) 2 Rimowa case, used: generated with Gemini based on the above. 3 Aesop cream cleanser, new: generated with Gemini based on the below. 4 Aesop cream cleanser, used: [thebeautiful.co.uk](https://thebeautiful.co.uk/products/aesop-purifying-facial-cream-cleanser) 5 Leica M2, new: generated with Gemini based on the below. 6 Leica M2, used: [leitz-auction.com](https://www.leitz-auction.com/en/Leica-M-Cameras-Ian-Berry/AI-100-Jahre-30160) 7 Baseball glove, new: generated with Gemini based on the below. 8 Baseball glove, used: [aeapr.com.br](https://aeapr.com.br/?a=52116376041270) 9 The Roger Centre Court, new: [petersheppard.com.au](https://www.petersheppard.com.au/products/the-roger-centre-court-all-white) 10 The Roger Centre Court, used: generated with Gemini based on the above. 11 Magic Keyboard, new: [apple.com](https://www.apple.com/ae/shop/product/mxcl3lb/a/magic-keyboard-usb-c-us-english) 12 Magic Keyboard, used: generated with Gemini based on the above. 13 Linear, landing page: linear.app 14 Apple, activity rings: [apple.com](https://www.apple.com/apple-fitness-plus/) 15 GitHub contribution graph: github.com/flornkm ## Stay in touch I write here every now and then. Leave your email and I'll send a short note when something new is up. # Footer Pages · Work · About · Writing · More · Colophon · Experiments · Legal · Imprint · Privacy Policy · © 2026 Florian Kiem All rights reserved. No reproduction or AI training.