The Eraser: The Great Creator

I watched 9 or 10 of these Design videos, but the one that stuck with me the most was “Undo, Redo” by Daniel Pink. When asked “What single example of design inspires you most?” Pink responded with the lowly eraser in all its forms. I never really thought about it before, but now that I do, I think I agree with him. I can’t eloquently explain it, but something about balance strikes me as important. Our society even has a hundred pithy phrases using the concept. What goes up must come down; an eye for an eye; tit for tat. We tend to seek balance. I think Pink’s notion is pretty logical in that in order to really create, we have to be willing to destroy. He says “the eraser allows you to make mistakes, and I don’t think there’s anything more important in creating something valuable and worthwhile than making mistakes.” Design-wise, whoever thought up the idea for a handy way to make minute corrections or start over was a genius. Everybody makes mistakes. There’s your demographic. Mistakes will never not happen. There’s your market sustainability. Mistakes happen in every medium. There’s your business expansion.

The last half of his clip was a discussion of how we should solve the problem of outdated systems through applied design-thinking. Pink is of the opinion that many of our institutional systems, like education, transportation, and health care, are not suitable for the 21st century. He wants to completely redesign those institutions with more focus on the efficiency of the design when paired with the purpose of the system. I think this ties in perfectly with his notion that the eraser is the single best design because you have to be willing to destroy to really create. Taking that design frame of mind and going to those institutions would radically change the way system overhauls and reforms would work. As of now, those institutions are not willing to destroy, and as a result, they are cumbersome, expensive, and inefficient.