Remote cabin stay yields powerful design for podiatrist

After meeting with my new client, Family Foot and Ankle a couple times, doing a bit of research and talking to two of my Luminaries in the medical field, I retreated to a cabin 1.5 miles from the nearest road in Tettegouche State Park.

Establishing Challenges
Listening to the client I discovered our two biggest challenges:
1. Some people view podiatry as a lesser level of medical care.
2. Showing Family Foot and Ankle as different from competitors (within podiatry and orthopedic surgery.

Research
Talking with the client and visits to Southdale Library gave me a strong foundation of podiatry and footcare in general. Specifically I learned Family Foot and Ankle is on of a small handful of clinics offering External Fixation or halo alignment (using an external frame to correct deformed skeletons – you may have seen this used on necks). People come from across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa for External Fixation and other treatments.

Luminaries
With each project I like to talk with experts in the clients field. I learned from a general physician that podiatrists are respected medical professionals and an important part of his referral team. Another doctor told me one of the doctors at Family Foot and Ankle is one of the best foot surgeons in the state.

Nearly a client walkabout
This client expressed a strong interest in joining me for an afternoon hike to share ideas and for me to learn even more about their podiatry business and what excites them with the future of their clinic. The primary surgeon even suggested fly fishing (his passion) for the walkabout. In the end he was not able to spend the time but I was thrilled with his interest. So

Walkabout
I shared the remote cabin with three other people but there was plenty of time for ruminating out in the forest. No cell reception or computer access and with the car parked 1.5 miles away there were no distractions. The cabin rested a few steps from Mic Mac Lake. High cliffs rose above the far side. During three days and three nights I mostly cross country skied. While gliding through the miles of forest, across ponds, over beaver dams and along dramatic cliffs I allowed my mind to wander. Most of the time just enjoying the snow hanging from the branches and wondering who left that scat. Over time it occurred to me the solution is two pronged: 1. A critical message or tag line that tell of the clients high end skills. 2. Create a series of very short videos, (30 seconds long like http://www.levator.com/gallery.php) featuring doctors form Family Foot and Ankle, about the most common foot conditions. This will show the client as an expert and leader in the field. It will also add validity to the field of podiatry.

Walkabout leads to Insight
A paper by Kalina Christoff from the University of British Columbia validates what I have long believed, engaging in an activity that allows your mind to wander really helps solve problems. To solve problems I head out for a hike (or ski, in the winter) which I call a Walkabout.
The scientific underpinnings of walkabout problem solving

Further development of the concept
My goal with this design is to show a single, primary, message followed by several secondary messages with links for more detail. Over time I have decided to show four or more thumbnail images of video screens at the bottom of the home page and they will link to the info page about each of the most common foot conditions. This way the site visitor will have a visual trigger they may identify with like heal pain or bunions and a link to more info. Instead of linking to just a video I will be nesting the video clip in the text of the common foot condition web page. This way the video is integrated rather than isolated in a Video section of the site.

Mockup of site design
Site visitors need to instantly understand this is a podiatrist’s site and one of the best foot surgTime to apply the concept developed during the walkabout to pixels. I design each site from scratch in Photoshop (rather than using templates). This allows me to deliver a design to the client that exactly meets their needs. For Family Foot and Ankle I choose a large image showing healthy feet or people on their feet enjoying life. This will likely be a slide show to allow more than one image. I used a grid over the photo with text reading “Put your feet in the care of one of Minnesota’s top foot surgeons.” Below the slide show will be links to the video pages and more info about the clinic.

The scientific underpinnings of walkabout problem solving

A paper by Kalina Christoff from the University of British Columbia validates what I have long believed, engaging in an activity that allows your mind to wander really helps solve problems. To solve problems I head out for a hike (or ski, in the winter) which I call a Walkabout.

Distraction helps creativity and complex problem solving. When we are distracted with activities that do not require attention, like hiking or taking a shower, we are able to solve complex problems and are more likely to deliver a unique solution.

Christoff describes three types of thought:

1. Goal-directed thought
This is the deliberate process of focusing on the problem and solving it. The part of the brain most closely associated with goal-directed thought is the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC has the ability to control other parts of the brain – this is known as cognitive control. With cognitive control the PFC helps focus on important or relevant stimuli while it reduces attention towards information and stimuli that seems unimportant to the task at hand.

2. Spontaneous thought
This occurs in an area known as the default network which includes the prefrontal cortex and the temporal lobe. The default network is activated when we are not focusing on a task. The default network accesses the temporal lobe which is related to long-term memory.

3. Creative
Creative thought combines attributes of goal-directed and spontaneous thought. Like spontaneous thought, create thought is related to a reduction in cognitive control. Experiments show after a period of distraction subjects generate ideas that are less obvious and more creative than those focusing on the problem.

Spontaneous thought has shown to be meaningful when a person is solving complex problems. In an experiment involving the selection of the best car, subjects who were distracted for a period of time before making the decision where more likely to make the right choice. When a person focuses on the problem using goal-directed thought their PFC deactivates parts of the brain and may be using just a portion of the total information. Spontaneous thought, however, casts a wider net and allows the use of large amounts of information to be considered. Also, during the spontaneous thought process, the brain reorganizes and groups information into larger categories, allowing more informed decisions.

While we sleep or do repetitive activities our spontaneous thought network is activated. During this time our subconscious is reorganizing what we have learned the day before and tries to dovetail it with past experiences. Bob Hendrickson, a computer engineer, call this process “batching.”

The science on spontaneous thought is relatively new but human history is littered with examples of  complex problems being solved when the problem solver is out on a hike or distracted by a dancer in a strip joint.

The lesson we all can learn is to learn what we can about the problem then stop racking our brains and go out on a hike or go shovel the side walk and let your spontaneous thought process work.

“When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves.”

Sigmund Freud

Information primarily from two sources:

Dijksterhuis A, M. B., Nordgren L, van Baaren, R. (2006a). On Making the Right Choice: the Deliberation-Without-Attention Effect. Science, 311(5763), 1005- 1007.

Christoff, K., Gordon, A., & Smith, R. (in press).    The role of spontaneous thought in human cognition. In:  Neuroscience of Decision Making.     (Eds: O. Vartanian and D. R. Mandel) Psychology Press.

Historic insight moment #2 – Laser principle

laserwaves

The moment of innovation is the glamorous and catchy part of the story, but after the epiphany, the creator needs continued persistence and focus to bring the germ of an idea to fruition. The epiphany alone is necessary but not sufficient to making a real contribution.

In 1951, Charles Townes attended a conference in Washington D.C. where participants studied the problem of using a vacuum tube to produce waves which could measure matter. The stumbling block was that the tube could not produce waves short enough to generate reliable measurements. Townes made the breakthrough that would eventually be the principle behind the laser during an early morning walk through Washington. While waiting for a restaurant to open for breakfast, Townes sat on a bench in Franklin Park. He suddenly realized the best way to make short waves might not involve a vacuum tube at all: “”We needed a new way to make waves shorter and shorter. Well, molecules make waves, I thought, and atoms can do it. I knew how molecules worked. And I thought, wait a minute, this will probably work.”

Townes scribbled his unexpected breakthrough on the back of an envelope. Amazingly, his epiphany occurred immediate across from the laboratory of Alexander Graham Bell, who discovered light could carry electricity. Said Townes later: “”There’s something almost mystical about it. Maybe he inspired me.”

Although that day on a park bench in Washington would come to be the iconic image of Charles Townes, his work on the laser principle was far from finished. During the two years it took Townes to create a working model, two Nobel Laureates told him his principle wouldn’t work. He was receptive to criticism, but strongly believed he could create a working model. Townes was vindicated in 1953, when his laboratory assistant interrupted class to say prototype Maser worked. Townes’ creativity and persistence had paid off.

Historic insight moment #1 – Philo Farnsworth

potato
Rows of potatoes inspire the modern television

No person exemplifies an unlikely inventor finding a breakthrough in the most unexpected of settings more than Philo Farnsworth.  Out in his family’s potato fields as a fourteen year old, Farnsworth had an epiphany: the crop rows represented a technique for sending bits of images through the air.  Even as a high school student without advanced technical training, Farnsworth was strikingly aware of the importance of his idea.  After attempting to explain the principle to his chemistry teacher, Farnsworth sketched the principles of his idea on a piece of paper and told Mr. Tolson, “hang on to this.  You never know when it might come in handy.”

At the same time, many of the world’s top engineers struggled to improve the rudimentary television prototypes.  Mechanical televisions showed moving images.  However, the rate at which the images refreshed and resolution of these prototypes were suboptimal.  Engineers sought an electronic solution, which would allow for a more compact set displaying higher resolution images.
Farnsworth remained struck by his idea.  Despite not graduating high school, he enrolled in science and engineering classes at Brigham Young University to gain the technical know-how to make his dream a reality.  Two years of schooling at BYU apparently taught him enough, as Farnsworth did not graduate.  He applied for a patent for his Image Dissector in 1927.  The Image Dissector was the key in turning moving images into the rows of information Farnsworth had envisioned in the fields of Idaho.  By limiting the amount of information that could pass through the transmitter, Farnsworth ensured the image would be split apart in transmission, then reassembled one row at a time.  Refreshing the images many times per second creates the illusion of moving pictures.

Farnsworth perfected his set and demonstrated its features for the public in 1934.  His image dissector, the concept that came to him as a child in the fields of Idaho, is considered the distinctive feature of modern television.

Tony Mommsen develops powerful web concepts in the wilderness. It seems appropriate to discuss historic moments of insight in science, math and the arts. Learn more about Tony’s Walkabout process

Cross country ski “Walkabout” helped solve problem.

Saturday I skied through a new coat of snow in the hilly pine forests of Wirth Park. As I strided through the woods I thought about mostly nothing. Occasionally a deer near the trail or the hoot of an owl would “wake” me. My task today was to help a client communicate the advantages of his business advising company more clearly.

I had already established the groundwork for the Walkabout:
1. Established the challenge with the client
2. Researched his industry at the U of M Library
3. Discussed challenge with one of my “Luminaries” (industry experts)

So, out on the trail, I empty my mind and enjoy the rhythm of my skis on the snow. During the next couple hours of huffing up hills and gliding down some thoughts enter my void. I remember wondering whether a deer’s heart rate rises when they see a threat, even if they stay completely still. I also remember finding it fascinating that a person could bet on which of Tiger Woods’ sponsors would drop him first. Then I would again become distracted by the silence. A while later, somewhere between that small grove of White Pines and the long, steep uphill I thought of Charles Joseph Minard’s 1869 flow map of Napoleon’s Russian failed campaign of 1812. Minard’s map In one diagram Minard was about to dramatically tell how Napoleon lost 90% of his men. Edward Tufte says it “may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn”.

Of course, we should diagram how my client’s business is different from the competition. I finished my ski, headed home, and sent a note to my client (I do not carry a Blackberry on a Walkabout). My client liked the idea so now I just need to execute a diagram half as good as Minard’s.

Developing web concepts in the Arizona Wilderness

Hired to design a site for a business consultant I spent four days hiking in the magnificent deserts of the Superstition Wilderness contemplating the best way to show how they were different from the competition. Cactus flowers were in bloom and it was cool enough to keep the rattle snakes at bay.

Hyland Park hike with client

A CPA hired me to develop a strong message to define his business. The client and I hiked the trails of Hyland Regionial Park just a few miles southwest of Minneapolis. It was a cool autumn afternoon, great for talking a thinking.

The walkabout combined with earlier research and the client’s own understanding of his business help us create a message that would position his business as one that would think proactively about his client’s money and not just do taxes.

Bike Lake Minnetonka

Banyon Data Systems (who writes software for running a small towns) hired Tony Mommsen to design their site. Pondering the best way to communicate the unique strengths of Banyon, Tony took a walkabout by bicycle through the many small towns surrounding Lake Minnetonka, West of Minneapolis, MN.

Skiing the North Shore of Lake Superior

After I designed their web site an acrylic fabricator asked me to come up with a few creative marketing ideas. After meeting with the client and some research into the acrylic industry, I headed up to the North Shore of Lake Superior for three days of wilderness cross country skiing. Snow, forests, rock cliffs and views of the world’s largest lake.

It was perfect spring conditions, just below freezing in the morning up to 50 degrees after lunch. Bright blue sky. I would stride along on my Fischer skis lost in thought. Sometimes I would reflect on my client’s comments when he said he wanted to get the attention of interior designers and architects.

Bottle Lake Canoe

Two days of paddling and ruminating for a client in Northwestern Minnesota.