The modular philosophy argues that tools should “do one thing and do it well”.

Advantages of a modular design

  • Repairability: If one part of the item breaks, it is possible to replace the singular part rather than the whole item.
  • Extensibility: Since the tool is designed to do one job, more complex tasks will require new tools, and so the tool should be able to be used as part of a more complex system.
  • Managing complexity: It is much easier to wrap our head around things when they are constanty being abstracted. This by itself is a pedagogical approach.
  • Customisability: Since the tool is modular it is easier to customise.

To illustrate all of these advantages in a real life context, lets take a look at the framework laptop. This company takes the modular design and applies it to a laptop, and have created a superior product:

  • Repairability: If one part of the framework laptop breaks (e.g. The trackpad), it can be easily replaced for cheaper than buying the whole laptop.
  • Extensibility: Parts of the framework laptop can be upgraded and extended.
  • Managing complexity: It is much easier to understand what is going on in a framework laptop than some monolithic product.
  • Customisability: The framework laptop is extremely customisable. Every part of it can be replaced and/or upgraded.

Disadvantages of a modular design

There are none?

Most of the modern products of the world are not as modular as they could be (e.g. electronics, cars, software). Why is this?

Since most of the products are created by companies, we can find the answer to this question by checking whether companies care about modularity:

  • Repairability: The company does not want their product to be repairable, since they want to customer to buy a new one each time it breaks. Some companies even go so far as to deliberately break it after a certain amount of time. Coining the term “planned obsolescence”.
  • Extensibility: Companies want to create extensions to their products themselves, since then they can make more money. Making it easy to extend the product increases competition, which is not in the companies benefit.
  • Managing complexity: The company does not want you meddling with the product. They will often go the opposite direction by not open sourcing it, or obfuscating it.
  • Customisability: This is the only advantage of modular design that some companies try to accommodate to increase customer satisfaction. E.g. By making their product available in different colours. Typically customers do not see the light of modular design and fall head over heels for a fancy iphone case.

Clearly, it is not in the best interests of the company to create a “good” product that increases the freedom of the user. There are of course a few exceptions to this where the company may be motivated by creating a positive social impact or relies heavily on customer satisfaction (e.g. the framework laptop).

FAQs

There are a few questions that arise from this that have quick answers:

What if the user is not comfortable with replacing a singular part?

The user still has the option of replacing the entire item.

Is there a compromise between convenience and and modularity?

No, because of abstraction. The product will feel exactly the same to the end user. There should be no compromises in speed or usability.

Does modularity decrease portability?

No, because if the product is completely modular, the modules will be able to be removed from the product, and used separately or as part of a smaller, more portable machine.