“I have only one superstition. I touch all the bases when I hit a home run.” - Babe Ruth
Touch is the world
I remember vividly one occasion in my childhood in Devon during an electric storm when a sudden powercut meant that I had to find my way around our home, to fetch some candles. It was very scary (particularly as we had been watching Alien on TV when the powercut happened). It was also exhilarating, as I found that using my hands I could see my way around the house (along with the mental map in my head). That was until I stepped into the kitchen (which was on a lower level) and screamed when I put my foot in the cold water which was the result of flooding!
Touch is in many ways different from other senses as it is “us”. Eyes, ears, tongue and nose are all specific organs with specific functions, but touch encompasses our whole body. More importantly, touch is the way that we “know” what’s out there – although we can see our environment, it doesn’t become “real” until we touch it or hold it. Read more »
“Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self, in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one’s nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one’s robes. ” - James Arthur Baldwin
“Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” - John F. Kennedy
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“Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, all must be tasted.” - Chinese proverb
Famous four or five?
Surely there was more to my richly flavoured bowl of noodles last night than the four basic tastes which most of us recognise? There was a rich savoury sensation on my tongue which I find difficult to describe, although it’s well understood in Asia.
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“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.” - Helen Keller
What is your favourite smell? I have many: the smoky, velvet, roasted smell of freshly brewed coffee (I have a pot in front of me), the fragrant hops at Brakspears’ brewery at Henley (no longer existing), and the sharp earthy smell of freshly cut grass are three that often come to my mind when thinking about smells that I love. One smell I really cannot bring myself to love is the durian, although many of my friends swear by it.
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“The fox who longed for grapes, beholds with pain
The tempting clusters were too high to gain;
Grieved in his heart he forced a careless smile,
And cried ,‘They’re sharp and hardly worth my while.”
- Aphra Behn
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The 80/20 Rule is also known as Pareto’s Principle or sometimes “the vital few and trivial many”. Vilfredo Pareto was an economist who studied the distribution of income at the start of the 20th century, observing that 80% of land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. In design this implies that a high percentage of effects in any system are caused by a low percentage of variables. The effect is observed in all systems, natural or artificial, and is the most basic case of a power law such as the Zipfian distribution (the distribution of words in a language). Earlier today I watched a TED presentation on the search for planets outside our solar system – now that technology has improved such that we are able to find smaller planets, the distribution of the size of the planets followed a beautiful power curve (you can see an example below). The power curve is also the basis of Chris Anderson’s Long Tail, although his long tail focuses on the trivial many (which he argues are not trivial when modern connectivity and distribution make them easy to access).
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“Always design a thing by considering it in its larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” - Eliel Saarinen
We all know the importance of context in decision making, but often ignore it’s critical role in shaping the uptake of new products and ideas. To give a trivial example, most of my cooking habits were formed when I left home and started at university, and reflect my budget, the equipment available in the hall where I first stayed and above all the tastes of those I was living with (we used to cook for each other much of the time). [By the way, this reflects badly on me rather than my mother who had tried to interest me in cooking earlier.]
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“He who laughs most, learns best.” - John Cleese
John Cleese talks about the basis of creativity in our unconscious mind in this great video clip (thanks to @heartofinnovation for drawing my attention to this). He also highlights some great tips for creating the right conditions for creativity :
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“I view my role more as trying to set up an environment where the personalities, creativity and individuality of all the different employees come out and can shine.” - Tony Hsieh
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“There’s no half singing in the shower. you’re either a rock star or an opera diva.” - Josh Groban
I don’t often sing in the shower (don’t worry – you haven’t missed much!). However, I get many of my best ideas there, and based on conversations with friends, I think they do too. Why is that?
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