Sep 14, 2018
Thinking outside the box — never
If you really want to think outside the box. Start by looking inside the box.
We’ve all heard the phrase “think outside the box.” Over the past decade, I’ve come to develop an immense hatred for the phrase and consider it a RED FLAG for any career requirement. To say the least, if a job listing has “thinking outside the box” as one of its primary responsibilities, I won’t even bother considering the position, and I’d argue that you shouldn’t either. Let me explain…
There is undue pressure on people (especially designers) to think outside the box, to be “oozing with creative never before discovered solutions.” In university, I experienced this. Teachers would ask, peers would insist and low and behold the pressure builds. But to what end?
Are you trying to produce something unique, or are you trying to produce something that is actually good?
The phrase is intended to help generate new and creative ideas and solutions but generally speaking, all it does is simply pressure people to construct poorly executed complicated solutions. All for the sake of being different, or unique. So why not ask simply for “creative solutions?” Or better yet, why not simply list in the job description that you are expected to “ask questions to better your design/product/solution.”
I would argue that a company that lists “thinking outside the box” as a core requirement, is ironically enough not thinking outside the box.
It’s not so much a problem with the idea, it’s more a problem of how the idea is executed. Starting the design process by thinking outside the box is incredibly dangerous. The box exists for a reason. It holds inside of it the collective experiences and ideas of everyone that has ever done anything before.
To immediately ignore that is to be arrogant — something we should all strive to be beyond. It would be like asking someone to design a new wheel, but ignore absolutely everything known about existing wheels simply because it already falls within the box. Once again why are we trying to desire a new wheel, is it to make it unique, or better?
So what would I do? Ask questions…
First Step: Ask, how did you get to where you are?
Second Step: Consider other potential existing solutions, what have they done, what can we do better?
Third Step: Seek outside disconnected opinions, feedback & critique for ideation and perspective.
Four Step: Design.
Thinking outside the box should be the natural byproduct of a proper strategy. Considering the moves already made, what can we do with XYZ? It’s not that asking questions takes a long time. If anything you can probably answer the first two questions in a simple conversation, and bring up the third question over coffee that afternoon. It doesn’t need to take long to begin to understand what is inside the box.
So the next time you're asked to think outside the box, simply ask “why”, and then move from there…
At the end of the day, it’s not so much that we should be seeking to developing unique solutions but that often the best solutions are those already developed; but which the business is failing to address, or execute properly. I’m putting forth that we need to be, as designers, designing not for ourselves, or our sense of artistic liberty, but for our clients clients who at the end of the day will not remember if something felt unique, but will remember if something worked.
No, I’m not arguing for the abolition of a quality beginning to end User Experience, or even a delightfully memorable one. But what I am arguing for is that the designer shouldn’t be forced or pressured into neglecting the main point of their work, which is to design a good solution to a problem that exists. If the solution is good, and it works as intended… then maybe just then… people will remember it if it is unique. But a unique solutions that fails to account for preexisting consumer expectations will encounter friction. Are you prepared to deal with it?
If you really want to think outside the box. Start by looking inside the box.
If your a company seeking creative people. Ask not for outside box thinkers, but ask for solution driving individuals capable of gathering perspective and performing analysis and research. Ask not for outside box thinkers, but for a understand a respect of the box, and ability to use it as reference.
Keep in mind:
- the computer mouse was designed to resolve a problem…
- the Amazon one-click buy was designed to resolve a problem…
- the Apple home button was designed to resolve a problem…
- the hamburger button was designed to resolve a problem…
The point being is that the problem existed before the solution. By understanding the problem you can develop and create a truly effective solution. So stop asking people to think outside the box, and start asking people to respect and understand the box and to use it as a point of reference.
