INVENTED BY ACCIDENT

FEATURE | Turn The Page #72 | April 2020 | Artichoke

In 1853, chef George Crum from Saratoga Springs, New York, USA, was fed up with a customer who continuously complained about his French fries, saying they lacked crunch. Crum sliced the potatoes as thin as possible, fried them in hot grease and sprinkled them with salt. The customer loved them and, incidentally, the first potato chips were born.

by Imara Stemvers

In 1943, naval engineer Richard T. James invented the classical “Slinky” Toy while developing a spring that would stabilise sensitive equipment on ships. When he accidentally knocked a prototype off a shelf, it uncoiled itself and stepped down onto a pile of books, onto the tabletop and onto the floor. In 1905, elevenyear-old Frank Epperson left a container of powdered soda and water, with the mixing stick inside, outside on his porch. He ‘invented’ the popsicle overnight. In 1973, Art Fry realised that a certain super-weak adhesive, discovered by a colleague, could be applied to paper, so that it impermanently glued to a surface: the Post-It Note.

An ‘invention’ is often characterised as systematic problem solving, a process of research or design that has been planned out and tested, with predicted outcomes. Prototypes that do not work as intended, need a little improvement. However, there is an ambiguous nature to invention. It’s not just a correct hypothesis, yet the creative use of whatever the outcome is. It’s not bad to put a failed prototype away on a shelf, but it should not be forgotten, and have the opportunity to fall down. The only reason we know about these ‘accidents’ today, is that their inventors considered they were fit for commercialisation.

OPPORTUNITY OR OBSTACLE?

‘Invention by accident’ is a rather obscure type of design. Designers are taught to be deliberate: to rationalise their process and to have reasons for their motives. On the other hand, ‘invention by accident’ is dependent upon what was not intended. It lies in the unforeseen ‘accidents’ that at first seemed obstacles to the process. Frank Epperson could have been upset having to defrost his sodawater concoction, yet instead began branding his creation and distributing it throughout the USA. If Art Fry hadn’t persistently believed in the saleability of his product, the Post-It Note would have never found its way into the workspace of so many industrial designers. In 2018, a study was conducted by the Academy of Management on accidental innovations, in which the process of ‘innovation by accident’ was referred to as exaptation: using a structure for purposes it wasn’t initially intended for. It concluded that openness of the designer and his or her environment was indeed relevant. A diverse team, composed of people from a variety of backgrounds, who looked beyond their work field, was most likely to think of novel uses for a technology. Also, in organisations where inter-departmental communication was frequent, serendipity would most often occur, like how Art Fry’s Post-It Note was based on the originally useless technology of a colleague.

THE DOWNSIDE

Yet there is danger in this method of design. Accidental innovations are often ‘failed’ ideas, not having been run through the same rigorous process of repetitive prototyping and improvement as ‘regular’ design. To invest in them is risky, as they have no

defined chance of success. Still, serendipity grants innovation, like said in the study: “...[happy accidents] could eventually give you a completely different way of competing, a completely new product or a completely new solution to a problem someone has already encountered.” Whether it’s a children’s toy like the Slinky, or an office item like the Post-It Note, both were innovative approaches to their respective problems, filling gaps of demand that nobody knew were there.

The usefulness of accidental innovation is determined by the flexibility of the designers’ mind, whether they have the ability to turn an unforeseen situation into profit. If we, ourselves, are open to re-interpretation, and the environment around us allows us to turn a screw-up into the next big opportunity, ‘invention by accident’ can make any design process more productive. Not to learn from our failures, but to take advantage of them.

Endless waiting lists, treatments that come to an abrupt end, clinic closure. Our mental healthcare system needs help. How can a design approach help deliver better care? Nynke Tromp is examining the future of our mental healthcare system from within the Redesigning Psychiatry programme.

FEATURE | Turn The Page #72 | April 2020 | Artichoke