NONOBJECT Design Fiction Book

NONOBJECT Design Fiction Book

Ever since I first bought my copy of A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech, I have been very keen on learning more, not just about being more creative, but also about the process of creativity itself. It's sort of a Zen thing, where you strive for enlightenment or the creative state, but you can only achieve it by not thinking about it.

You can't be creative by scheduling yourself a task to be creative. You have to, as von Oech puts it, challenge your day-to-day, minute-by-minute thinking to identify and surpass various "mental locks" that we've learned in our lives to adapt to test-centered schools, policy-driven companies and routine-based lives.

This author/designer in the NONObject book has really done a great "what-if" exercise in his improbable objects. Spoons made of hundred miniature spoons, portable phones with gaps for buttons, or with no display, and all sorts of other fantastical objects are meant to challenge your assumptions about design.

Why do we really do certain things certain ways. Is it some sort of fundamentally important requirement that has just settled into our skin and bones? Or is it a result of some inertial Zeitgeist that has long since become obsolete?

Often, you cannot discover which features are truly required and which are no longer necessary, until you turn a design on its head, make a fantastical what-if scenario, and try to solve that problem for real. Only then will you find yourself facing impractical problems that highlight other design choices that you weren't consciously thinking of. Only then will you be broken from your patterns of thought enough to solve problems in unconventional ways, perhaps even discovering something more efficient or enjoyable.

In my day-job as a software developer, I'm known as someone who excels at "thinking outside the box" (a tired cliche that nevertheless is most useful to get the point across). I'm often the one who suggests completely bizarre and unexpected approaches to problems. I'm often the one who comes up with ridiculous solutions, too. But even in those cases, the ridiculous suggestions help me learn more about the problem I'm trying to solve, so it's a win.

Take a look at the NonObject book and web site, and also at Roger von Oech's web site.

Terrible Customer Service

I just got done helping my dear mother post a complaint about a local shoe store where she recently had problems. I'll post her complaint message in a sec, but let me just break it down for you.

She goes to this Bakers Shoes joint and buys some shoes she likes. The sales gal asks if she wants to keep the shoe box, and my mom says naah, I don't need it. All good, right?

Well, my mother decides that maybe she really didn't need these shoes, after all, the pointy toes don't quite fit her style like they did in the 1960s (she's in her 70s, but as formidable a woman as I've ever known -- I'm proud she's my ma, you know?), so she takes them back the next day to return them.

The gal who helps her happens to be the manager of the store....

She happens to be the same gal who sold them the day before....

And she says that, because she didn't have the shoe box, she couldn't return the shoes!

My mother reminds her that she gave her the option of going with or without box, and she'd never mentioned that the box was a requirement for returning them. And mind you, this is not something she'd encountered since coming here in the sixties.

So read on below, and use this experience as a guide to whether or not you want to shop at Bakers Shoes. With customer service like this, why would anyone?

After living in the United States since 1966, I never had any problems returning merchandise until today. I went into your store (in Irving mall 3649 Irving mall TX 75062, tel: 972 594 4974) Friday 12/27/2007 and bought a pair of boots: your salesperson, who happened to be the manager ( I just learned it today), asked me if I wanted a box: I said "no, a plastic bag will be ok", nothing more was said. I paid with a credit card. Today, Sunday 12/ 23/2007, getting ready to pack for the holidays, I thought that pointed shoes were OK for a 30 years old in the sixties but not for a 70 years old grandma in 2007 and decided to return them and exchanged them for something more comfortable. Let me be clear on this, I had not even worn the shoes outside of the store. I talked to the same person: Krystal: (and I supposed that the number next to her name is hers:) 35528 who told me that they don't accept returns, when I pointed out that there was no mention of no return in the sales receipt, she told me that they do not accept return without the box: I pointed out that she didn't mention anything about having the box if I wanted to return the shoes, when I bought them on Friday she then asked one of the other assistant to call somebody (I think I heard the word security) but after a day of Christmas shopping the only thing I wanted to do was going home. I then asked if there was somebody who was wearing shoes size ten: and a beautiful young lady who is expecting a baby told me yes: I then gave her the shoes. I do not have to tell you that I will send this note to all my friends and I will never put my feet (excuse me with shoes from other store) in your store.