It was about a year ago that Jessica Helfand in the Design Observer, offered a list of ten things she’d like to see redesigned. Others posted follow-on lists and, I expect, almost all of us have a list of things, places or experiences that leave us unsatisfied – what a friend recently called our Andy Rooney items. How do these things, we wonder, come into existence with intention and become such a large part of our lives, yet seem to have so little thought behind them?

I, of course, have my own list, and it’s growing. Here are a few things, though, that I’ll try to actually contribute some thinking to this year. Perhaps they are my New Year’s resolutions.

Over the next few days, we’ll roll out one or two of these ideas each day in the hope that you’ll find something of common interest and choose to join the conversation…or even commission a study!