This is only sort of about boxes
So we did some yaking about the world expo last week and it's been bugging me in thinking about it all week, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
I'll get to that in a minute. Let's talk a little bit about package design.
A package has two basic purposes - it contains the thing that is the reason for needing a package in the first place, and it must attract you to desire the thing it contains within. A secondary state, not really an important function as the people in charge are concerned: it acts as the initial access point for you once you've decided you can't live without the thing contained inside of the package. Therefore it must serve the purpose and also be attractive. And if you're lucky, once you've bought the thing in the package, it's fun and easy to get it out of there.
So how on earth can a world expo be designed to contain huge vast unimaginable technological hoo-has and,
uh
okay, so you don't know it but I just performed an experiment there. The thesis of the experiment was this:
I believe it is possible to watch my West Wing DVDs and write a coherent blog at the same time.
That thesis has been disproved. But I wager that while it may not make a lot of sense, I sound pretty witty doing it.
Anyway, the point was this: Scott's talk was frequently punctuated by remarks about the length of the lines and the waiting periods to see all the attractions, sometimes as long as whole days. Did they not know so many people were going to be coming???
I kind of think that they did. But it's a common problem that most people don't think about. Waiting to see the attraction should be part of the attraction itself. It should be part of the design process you think about when you're putting the damn thing together. The thing in the box is part of the whole thing. The package is part of the product and it's part of the experience. Why do we act like it's not?