The Back of My Napkin: Keep it Simple

I had so much fun at a Sushi restaurant this evening. I was relaxed, taking my time to enjoy the food, and chatting with the staff in Mandarin. In another word, as a costumer, I was whole-hardheartedly connected to the food, the people, the surroundings and the moment.

While I sat at the bar, I wondered why some restaurants let you do that, but in others, I feel like an outsider - being treated like a guest, being wooed (for the sake of tips), finish my food and get out as quickly as possible. Then I saw this (picture below) on the counter where sushi were being prepared:

Three simple pieces: a hand bell, an iron stick and a desk bell. When the sushi chef receives an order, he puts the ticket on the stick. The hand bell ringing tells the waiter a take-out is ready for pick-up; whereas, when a dine-in order is ready to serve, the desk bell rings. The concept is simple, and it works out beautifully. The serving staff are in order, and the background music of the restaurant is two tones of jingle that come up every now and then.

I decided to take a note of this great piece of inspiration by drawing on the back of my napkin - It made me think, when a waiter takes my order using an iPad, it inevitably creates disconnection - a sense of out of touch. Why make things so complicated with fancy gadgets?

Placemaking, sounds like an edgy word, but it is not at all unique to our times - people have been doing this for thousands of years: from home decoration in each family to building gigantic ritual monuments in the ancient civilization kingdoms. I think, the reason that the term "placemaking"was reintroduced to the urban design industry was to emphasize the basic concept of craftsmanship, connection, efficiency and identity when we physically impact an environment.

When we become able to appreciate more about the act of drawing than on what a drawing is done (on a piece of napkin or on iPad), we start to see the substance among the noises. Keep it simple is to filter out the noises.

(The title of the article is inspired by the book title: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, by Dan Roam, 2013)