What ‘The Simpsons’ Can Teach Us About Creativity, Chaos and Change — Introduction
I watched 122 hours of the longest running animated series of all time. Here’s what it taught me about product design principles.
When I was seven, my dog Hannibal bit down on my right foot and swung me around the kitchen. (No, the irony is not lost on me.)
Sitting in one of the examination rooms at DC’s Children’s Hospital, I noticed an extremely brightly colored animation on the television. It was a large yellow person stuck in an industrial exhaust pipe. As the camera panned below, you could see two workers in hazmat suits spraying his feet and tickling the lodged (obstructee?) character.
That was my first introduction to the The Simpsons. If it wasn’t for the kismet tarsal connection between Homer and I, as the doctor examined and tickled my feet to determine if my dog had hit any bones, I don’t think I wouldn’t have watched the show until later in life.
Since then I have been obsessed with The Simpsons. I aspired to be like Lisa Simpson during my adolescence, experimenting…
