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.
