Complicated

Making It Better

Garth Beyer

“How can we make this better?”

Well, you can add a widget here, add another layer of code here, we can compile feedback from 100 friends and make all the necessary tweaks and add-ons too.

Making better might mean making it more complicated and, thus, less likely to be adopted, purchased, fan-boy-loved.

To make something better, we have to start with a better question.

“How can we make this more simple?”

Now you’ve got me hooked.

Easy to adopt, easy to use, easy to share doesn’t mean that something isn’t remarkable.

 

Stay Positive & It Means Quite The Opposite

What Size Would You Like

Garth Beyer

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I’ve had it with all the different cup size names (e.g., trenti, kid, venti, grande, sixteen, large, extra-large, power, original, regular).

Here’s a quick solution: Let people pick out their cup as they get in line.*

Sometimes being creative is a set-back. It’s fun to make different names for sizes (whether they make sense or not), but not everyone can keep up. If you had the option to appeal to all customers and lose some or appeal to all customers and keep all, it’s clear which is the better choice.

Yet, in an effort to stand out, businesses sacrifice some customers that, if time would be taken, could otherwise be kept. Note, the best kind of creativity is the uncomplicated kind.

 

Stay Positive & Have Fun But Keep It Simple

Garth E. Beyer

*The take-it-too-far part of me would insist that you could give customers markers to color their cups while they wait in line. Have them write their own name on it too. Starbucks never spells it right anyway. (But they do when I say Voldemort. -sigh-) And yes, there will be a line at a place where you don’t have to figure out what cup size to order, ending up feeling like an idiot when you order it wrong.

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