Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Looking for design ideas? Visit a Starbucks once a week.

I love to look a new designs. Designs are plans for solutions or solutions themselves. One of the reasons I loved walking a thousand miles down a road was that I saw how people solved problems with buildings, pastures, fences, vehicles, and so on.

I frequent Starbucks coffee shops. There are two or three different locations I visit depending on what day of the week it is and where my job takes me. One of the Starbucks has retail space and displays coffee cups, coffee makers, water bottles, and other sundries. I love to look.

Starbucks often changes these little items that they have on display. They are displaying designs. How many ways can you make a coffee cup? More than I thought possible. How many types of machines can you use to brew coffee? More than I thought possible.

Perhaps that is it; perhaps that is the reason I like to see as many designs as I can – they expand what I think is possible.