“dude, dude, dude!”

- “now what? can’t you see i’m busy?”

“dude, seriously, remember that last time i saved the world with my design?”

- “vagely…”

“well, this time my idea is even better!!!”

- “better hmm? how much on the Wen Scale?”

“Wen Scale? that’s like sooo 2005. now we have the Ytillitref Scale…”

- “the what scale?”

“the Ytillitref Scale! it is a new and improved scale focussing on the fertility of an idea rather then just the new-factor.”

- “i see, and how much Ytillitref are we talking about with this brain child of yours?”

“about 0.254.”

- “0.254? how much Wen is that?”

“dunno, there is no such thing as a Ytillitref to Wen translator…”

- “so how am i supposed to grasp the size of this idea of yours?”

“dunno, but this is huge!”

- “…”

to be new, or not be new… maybe the newnyness scale is not a (very) good idea, but its a new idea! On a newnyness scale maybe very young, but not to be used much by many people probably. On the innovativeness scale no so high. Maybe thats the point I was making:

I can think of thousands of new ideas everyday, but only once in a while I can make millions of dollars out of it. What we need is not newnyness, (or just novelty in proper english, staying in China fucks up every sense of proper language) but fertility. And fertility gives the opportunity for others to actually use that idea and make themselves happy. -still ignoring the marketeer….-

So little John, can you provide me once again with a good dialogue obout a fertility scale? Lets call it the ytilitref scale

i can not agree more with alain. multi-million marketing schemes together with the so called ‘innovative’ products are a waste to the world. customers are getting more cynical than they have ever been. within a few years its no longer sufficient to tell your customer a simple lie. nowadays customers are in control… they ask each other about purchases and they tell each other about purchases. if you lie you will suffer… so thats the reason why i tried to tell you how important its going to be to design product which we can sell, we cannot tell lies to sell, the product have to be of a sufficient quality and fit to the customer preferences so we marketeers are able to sell it.
however if you as a designer just don’t like marketeers, if got one great advice for you, and please dont tell other marketeers i told you this: but just design crap, because that makes us have to lie to sell, in which we will fail and our position in the firm will be lost. the only side-effect of this would be that you’ll have to deal with the nutty financial guys. the guys that still havent found out the pleasures the ipod brings to your life.
so its up to you, designers.
if i may propose: please help us marketeers! just design really innovative products, that have some unique selling points. this will keep us alive and in return we’ll group up with you, try to get more respect and the corresponding funds from the financials at the headquaters. and most of all we’ll bless our customers with the best and most honest products they have ever seen.

amen

“omg rofl wtf lmao!!!”

- “what? what? whaat?”

“i just thought of an amazing idea!!”

- “a new idea hmm? how much in the on the Wen Scale?”

“about 187….”

-” 187 Wen? dude! that’s like….almost….new….”

“i know….omg….i am gonna save the world with this!”

and yes, such things do actually happen…

In my opinion we could use a novelty scale. Obviously a scale needs some quantity, lets say Wen. Something new is maybe 80 Wen on the scale of New.

So how do we determine the novelty of something? An idea can be new as well, but some ideas are more new than others before that, although they may have there earlier.

hmz… have to pick someboby up…

to be continued…

Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say that it is impossible. In fact, there are numerous innovative things that mankind has come up with such as fire, the wheel, aeroplanes, boats and velcro. But still, we just stole those ideas from nature…

It’s a pity that many designers have somehow accepted this incapacity to come up with new things, and have decided to really improve the world by yet another phone cover or, like Jan said, another grey box. Another pity is that these ‘innovative’ ideas are backed-up by a multi-million marketing scheme into tricking people that it is, in fact, a wonderful new innovative addition to our lives. Or is this a bit too hush, Martijn?

I like your article Jan, and also the replies so far. It’s a good thing to be aware of these things. My hint of advice is, look for ‘new ideas’ in nature. See what else we can steal.

gheghe, just kidding. nice post, thanks for your time.

i would like to comment on your view on selling products. products will never appeal and apply to everybody. although your aim is high, in reality it is a major challenge to get your product our for everybody. most products have target groups. these groups provide targets, so we designers will have a better chance in meeting as much wishes and demands as possible.

but i very much agree with you that innovation should be a top priority. and especially a focus on product that not only look good but also show affordance and usability. what good is a product when no one is able to interact with it?

that’s one hell of a story you got there. you have got some interesting points.

however, i just have to comment on the part about the indians not being able to see the ships. if indians are familiar with water and know what it is they would be very much able to indentify the ships as ‘not-water’. which would lead to the conclusion the ships are something else, something new.
i just cannot comprehend people not being able to see such a distinct feature on the water as ships. how close to these huge things have to get for the indians to see a difference in the waves and still not notice the big boats? another addition, i am familiar with the same story. only in the version i was told the indians recognized the people on the boats before the boats themselves.

these ships are made of many things; ropes, sails, wood and a lot of other things. how come these indians did not identify any of these known materials?

with that statement of being unable to see that which is new to us, we would have been blind as little babies, unable to see anything around us until someone explained or showed us what is was. which is not really true.

but still an interesting statement. unfortunately, the only waves i get to see are those when i flush the toilet.

(excuse me for some typos or grammabugs, but fridaymornings aren’t my favourite ones)

Now that I want to start to comment on your column, my mind is teasing me with different, contradictory thoughts. There are two of ‘em and here they come:

1) I think you’re right. There is no such thing as ‘new’. Relatively though, products can be new…you get it? But indeed, I believe as well that everything in this world is related. Theoretically one can look in the future if one is able to analyze everything on an atomic level and see how all (and I mean ALL) these atoms react to each other and then predict with a staggering certainty what these atoms will do. But that’s just theoretically…

2) Have you seen that documentary-movie “What the bleep do we know?”? No? let me eduacte you guys: The story goes, that the indians (you know, the original inhabitants of the land nowadays called North America) could not see the ships of Columbus coming on that bright sundaymorning of 1492. (yes I was there, just like Junior actually talked to our dearest Albert) The ships got closer to the coastline and the indians still did not see any ships. Why? No, not because they were short-sighted, in their world there was no such thing as a ship. The whole concept of a ship was not-existent. And the theory goes, that one cannot see things that are non existent in one’s world.
Here we go “in one’s world”. This means that maybe there are many, many, many things around us that are actually there, our brains just ignore them since our brains don’t recognize them. As a side note I think it is culturally dependant what one can and cannot see and depends on how you were raised as well. Think back of the time you were a child, a little stone you found somewhere could be anything you want,…cool!
OK, back to the indians; when the ships eventually got even closer (Columbus must be one amazed little fellow…) the indians started to see the waves the ships made in the water. After looking for a long, long time at these strange waves, one smart-ass indian started to notice the ships, but unfortunately it was too late and the US of A were founded. The bottom line is: there are new things out there, and our eyes pick them up, our brains just don’t allow us to see them. Unless you get a spoiler like the waves of the ships.

So,…look for the waves fellow designers, look for the waves. And find all the beauty that is hidden from us!