I'll probaby never be one who knows very much about product development or design, but there are times when I wish I did. That's mostly when I am made amazed either by the beauty, practicality, or functionality of an object.
When the three qualities unite in harmony, the perfection only confirms the undeniable existence of well measured poetry in every cranny of technology. From a business viewpoint, the perfection often translates into secured streams of cash. Toward this end, advertising stresses on, or exploits, any of the three qualities in introducing a particular product to the consuming mass.
Speaking of which, back in 1992 when the fax machine was on the rage, and when my job required that I received daily scrolls of rolled faxpaper from the other end, I recall once thinking how I would be grateful if they could create a similar gadget that fed on normal pieces of folio paper.
I also remember, a year later when I had my first and bulky handphone (more popularly called as a "radiophone" that day in Bp city), thinking that the world needed vibrating handphones. Well, I never discussed such "silly" ideas with anyone; while I am posting about them now, these ideas have no doubt been made obsolete by the ephemery of product cycle.
Quite some time ago now, with a friend of mine Tris we once landed on a discussion on what we thought could be a million dollar idea. It concerns cigarettes. (Yes, we are both fellows foolishly hooked by Lady Nicotine--while I'm struggling to terminate the affair, Tris has never indicated, at least to me, a slight wish to discontinue being enamored with her). That particular day was the first time we thought about a new and better way to present this particular one worst type of stuff men ever created. Anyway, cigarettes in our opinion should be made shorter. Rather than tucking them tall in a pack of 12, it would be better to shorten the size and put them short in a pack of, say, 24. A few days ago, the idea struck us again. This time we felt more convinced than before that any cigarette brand would have an edge over the tough competition just by re-presenting the coffin nails this way. We both were, of course, being very biased. But we couldn't help believing it would be a reality. We still can't.
Recently, a "brilliant" idea about toothpaste or toothbush struck my mind. It's a sort of about innovation that I'm weirdly convinced enough will dramatically triple or quadruple the sales of any toothpaste or toothbrush if it is sold accordingly (my heart is pounding as I'm blogging this now). I'm still wondering what's best to do with it. I mean it may be high time that this particular hunch didn't just die away unembraced.
