“If you build it, he will come.”
- Voice in the cornfield in Field of Dreams
For the past few years I have been conducting secret research.
The results illuminate something fundamental about our approach to the Gizmos. And like some of the best discoveries, this one is based on a simple device. In this case, a set of small marble blocks.
The unwitting subjects of my study have been dinner guests over the past few years. As any host/researcher knows, there is an odd gap between the time the table is cleared of the main course and the moment when coffee and dessert are served. When I noticed a set of marble blocks on a shelf, I idly set them out on the table so that the guests could play with them to pass the time.
Of course I had no idea that this little gesture would point to a basic issue in the way we approach information. What I discovered is that people can be divided into two categories. Not herb tea versus decaf cappuccino but something more basic to our techuman nature…tower builders and maze makers. In other words, the ones who take the blocks and build up and up as opposed to the ones who build out and out.
You might probably assume, as I did at first, that this is a gender issue… men up, women out. But that is not at all what my research shows. Age is not a factor either. In fact, it has become clear from both careful observation and careless chitchat, that the difference between the two groups is cognitive.
Tower builders are linear thinkers.
These are people who process the world systematically, sequentially, one tidbit at a time. They are lineasts and build their monuments the same way they assemble their worldview, step by step. They consider each piece carefully, adjust each new placement, and try to beat gravity by the sheer force of their logic and precision. Their goal seems to be to create a kind of unassailable coherence…a structure that is both consistent and impressive. The risk, of course, is great. One false move, one misplaced assertion, can bring the whole construction tumbling down.
Maze makers are different. They are optophiles.
This word comes from the Latin root optare, meaning to choose. The maze makers love choices, options, parallel lines of reasoning. They tend to create dynamic patterns that may be confusing but that also draw you in by their complexity. And the maze makers work differently too. They build by constant adjustment and re-evaluation, moving and shifting.
The maze makers are not looking for simplicity. On the contrary, the goal seems to be to create a rich interaction of forms. Yet there is a big risk here too; their designs may not come tumbling down at once but can easily dissipate into chaos.
After-dinner whimsy or an insight into the designing mind?
Before you dismiss the question, I should point out that this distinction reflects a very basic gizmotic conflict...an issue in information design. The tower builders like their data in a steady stream, one tidbit at a time while the maze makers like a lot of choices, picking and choosing their own nuggets. What drives the lineasts crazy is how easily you can lose track of where you are, where you were, or where you are going. But it is just this freedom of choice that appeals to optophiles.
Stories on the one hand and snippets on the other. Chapters versus menus. Email versus Facebook. Focus on what you are doing or do a lot to help you focus.
Sound familiar?
If so, then one of these approaches already makes you uneasy. For myself, assuming that they are separate but equal, I have tried suggesting to my lineastic guests that they experiment with building out and to the optophiles that they try building up. Makes sense to offer both, doesn’t it? Sorry, not so simple. It never works; we are as we are. Some rare birds are willing to switch sides but always with a slight sense of distress, like combing your hair the wrong way.
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