The word quirk or to be quirky is inspirational. Keep it in mind although some might say that you’ve got it naturally or you don’t have it. There may be some truth in this – if you have little aptitude for the unusual, the odd, the zany – then inventing amusements may not be for you.
So quirky is perhaps a style although it can also define the invention. Form and function and how they relate are at play here. And in general, form vs function is what design is all about. You can have quirk in the packaging or the name of the invention – things that are more form related. But you can also have quirk in the idea itself.
Take the Jack in the Box pictured in this article. This elevates the aspect of surprise. Perhaps it is not the most inventive of products but one important part of invention can be that it points away from the prior art. After years of seeing jack in the boxes pop out the top, this one falls through the bottom. Much easier to build 
. Relevance is continued by making it the feet of the jack.
Something to watch out for is that quirk is like a lure. If you make it too odd, it is perhaps not believable or people do not understand it and your invention can be ignored. I generally like to blame all my failures on the invention being too zany. I suspect though that this is not the case – marketing is what is needed to educate or entice the public to accept the invention.
When a quirky product, whether in form or function, makes it big – it usually really makes it big. This may be because it is generally more unique. It could be that people are proud that they get the concept – or the gimmick. Web 2.0 is somewhat based on stylistic gimmicks. Pet Rocks, well… I’ll let you make the list – and see if you can be the next harbinger of quirk.
I think one of the main problems with most inventions is that they are ahead of their time. Also, alot of times most inventions that are gimmicky tend to attract alot of people at first, and when people realize that there is not much substance or usefulness to a “gimmicky” invention people will move on. Does anyone remember the original “dotcom boom” where 90% of all investments turned out to be vaporware?
You mean that wasn’t a dream?!
You’re right, Jeff. Look at gesture technology. It’s cool and “gimmicky” but what are it’s practical applications? It seems like it’s mostly for gaming. Which is great but can a technology be sustained only by video and console games?
Look at the Wii. It’s a good family console, lots of fun for parties and groups etc. But what about the everyday use? I like my Wii, but I haven’t played a ton of games on it. I have played games that are specially designed to work with the gesture technology on it. Like Wii sports and Trauma Center: Second Opinion. And that’s only every now and then when I feel like something different. But the everyday games like Spiderman, Paper Mario, Darkness etc, I play on other consoles or ignore altogether. How frustrating, tiring and boring would it be to have to web-sling across New York by swing your arm back and forth? Playing that same game on X-360 I traveled over 200 miles web-slinging. If I had done that on the Wii my arm would have fallen off.
Like I said, gesture technology seems cool at first but how practical is it really? It reminds me of a lava lamp. Very awesome at first but realistically they are just pretty paper weights.
I agree with Jeff, most inventions that can seem ‘zany’ do tend to not be in the current time, when the invention could very well be popular or talked about, if only it were invented two years into the future. With all inventions, there is a fine line between invention and insanity. It needs to be something practical, but at the same time it also needs to be realistic, and above all else, understandable for people who might want to use it! Most people that come up with new ideas, come up with something they think is ‘cool’, but have no way to sell it to the public, so idea = trashed.
But walking the fine line between inventing something useful (seeing as what that’s what most people look for these days), and not too logically unreasonable (easy for the modern man to understand) is the initial blockade that most inventors encounter with a new idea. But after that, if it’s a really well-researched and well-developed idea, it’s fairly easy sailing afterwards.