Unexpected Adaptation
by Henning FischerOne of the things we always look for when conducting field research is how people use products in unorthodox ways. These are the situations that clearly aren’t intended by the designers, covered in the instructions or in the manufacturer’s warranty, but still make sense. Some of the best that I have seen include:
- The use of MS Access to store a few addresses
- Taking an extremely non-portable home stereo on vacation because nothing else sounded quite as good
- The willingness of ultralight backpackers to try just about anything to lighten their loads
The military’s use of Silly String to detect tripwires takes the cake though.
What unexpected adaptations have you seen?
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on Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Creativity, What were they thinking?.
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