Creativity hiding in plain sight
Spotting workarounds—how people things in unintended ways—challenges me to notice needs. Jane Fulton Suri's gem of a book Thoughtless Acts inspired this exercise in ethnography, which lives on Tumblr.
Unusual Window Dressing
When I noticed this gas station's windows, I wondered, “Why does it look like a meth lab?”
The source of the foil
The foil’s intended use
Explanation
The measly sun shades at Acee’s Neighborhood Food & Fuel hardly dim the morning sun. Its glare is too bright for the clerks to read the numbers on their cash registers. When management refused to upgrade the shade, a clerk tiled the windows with the foil squares they wrap breakfast sandwiches in. Now they have enough shade to conduct transactions unimpaired.
This post was re-blogged by 99% Invisible. Here’s the full post.
Coffee Catcher
These re-purposed 2-liter bottles are keeping the floor dry and safe to walk on.
Barricade
This barricade at a local grocery store (Schnucks, the “Friendliest Stores in Town”) exemplifies of what Suri calls co-opting: “We make use of opportunities present in our immediate surroundings.”
