Maslow’s is interesting, but not terribly helpful if you want to use it for something. This one however, I still find a very useful framework when designing (read about it in the DMI paper System Logics). Your sweet spots for the exciting innovations are the context and activity level needs. 

Patnaik’s Hierarchy of Needs

Half the time when you pick up a whiteboard pen that doesn’t work, it’s because it’s been stored nib-upwards. It usually just needs a little re-charging.

Store whiteboard pens with the nib down

I love the idea that the computer just disappears backwards into the plug. Neal Moore first mentioned this to me. In the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving there’s an idea that all functions will eventually be subsumed by the system above it. Assuming that we will always need some sort of power it makes sense that the computer will disappear into there at some point. The iMac was essentially a jump where the computer disappeared into the screen. For this reason I’ve often thought that floors, walls and ceilings should be given more thought than they are. When everything else has changed, I reckon they will still be around. I wouldn’t mind if our dinner table disappeared into the floor once we were done with it for example.

Plug computing

Underlining was a by-product of typewriters. It generally doesn’t improve things. Now, I’m still waiting for someone to make a pen with a button on it to write in bold. And to write a straight line without a separate ruler. Anyone want to team up?

Urge to underline? Use bold or italic instead

The realisation originally came to me when I saw, pinned outside a Professor’s door, an entire sheet of plain letter paper with a single line quote at the top. The standards are driving the system. About time we got more flexible.

If we plumbed in printers

Do not hesitate to ditch that which doesn’t stack and replace with ones that do. Life is too short.

Non-stacking Tupperware should be destroyed

I think I would buy one of these if it existed as cool as it does in my mind.

Sketchplanations tagged with product