Knowing what it’s not
Defining the negative space as a technique in product management.
Sometimes going in the wrong direction helps you move forward.
In this article we will look at examples and draw conclusions for the design and development process of products.The Problem
I once worked at a fashion/ecommerce company. One day I was pulled into a workshop inside one of its fancy meeting rooms with felt walls and Vitra furniture. A team of well-dressed business people was stuck: they had to come up with the details of a concept for a new type of service.
All people in charge, while looking very dapper with their indoor scarves and perfect hair, were struggling to define the core aspects of the new service. With too many good options at hand– their beautifully manicured hand– it was impossible for them to decide whether to go for option A, B or C.
I followed the conversation from the back of the room. As their discussion grew louder one of them turned to me in great expectation. Everyone suddenly stopped talking. “What do you think?”
High off the mix of perfumes in the room I replied that, if it appeared too hard deciding what the thing should be then maybe they could start off by describing what it clearly should *not* be.
You know, like Rick Astley: instead of listing all ways in which he will treat you right he sings about how he will never treat you wrong.
Boy, I remember the looks on their faces. Guess what happened?
We will come back to this story in just a moment.
“Catch-22”
Sometimes it’s hard to decide between too many valid options. Not only at work, but anywhere in life: endless possibilities can cause writer’s block.
When under stress, our brain switches control from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system which is responsible for instinctual behavior and quick decisions, like the Fight-or-Flight response. In other words: no more creative achievements to expect from your cerebral cortex.
Needless to mention it is even more horrifying having no options at all.
We’ve all been there at some point in our lives:
No way out, zero options, a “catch-22”.
Oh no! What are we to do? How do we get out of the limbic limbo?
The Opposite️️
As you’ve guessed, there’s a solution. A cheat code for both situations, be it too many or no options at all:
Go the opposite way. Take a counterintuitive path. Full speed the other direction. Flip the script. Vice the versa. As crazy as it sounds– it works.
It does the trick in all sorts of situations:
- Stuck with an urgent task?
→ Take a break. It may feel like wasting precious time but you’ll come back and approach things from a different angle. - Feeling cold?
→ Go take a cold shower. Not just a little cooler, we’re talking ice-cold. Your body will turn up the internal heat instantly and anything after that feels warm. - Having trouble convincing your child?
→ Just tell them not to do whatever you want them to do. Reverse psychology is a centuries-old trick. I dare you to try it… - Hung over?
→ Have a Konterbier (or a Bloody Mary).
On goes the list. It obviously doesn’t apply to all situations in general. Think about what’s there to lose when you’re really stuck and give it a try. Let’s look at some more examples.
1) Examples in History
There are plenty of examples in history where doing the opposite of the obvious choice worked out:
- During World War 2, a statistician named Abraham Wald was asked to give advice on where the British should strengthen the armor on their bombers to minimize plane losses. Wald analyzed the damage distribution of returning bombers. Instead of recommending adding armor to the places where returning planes had the most damage Wald suggested to strengthen the parts that showed no damage. He figured that those impacts resulted in the bombers not returning home.
- While journalists and photographers all rushed to the hospital to report on Albert Einstein’s death, only one photographer went straight to Einstein’s office to take the now iconic picture of his desk as he’d left it.
- From 1730 to the second half of the 20th century Coal miners used canaries as opposite alarms: once their chirping stopped the miners knew the air quality was at a critical level…
2) In Popular Culture
- In Disney’s film Cars (2006), Doc Hudson tells Lightning McQueen:
“If you’re going hard enough left, you’ll find yourself turning right”, teaching him how to drift as the winning move.
- In Ghostbusters (1984), the only way to defeat “Gozer the Gozerian”, god of destruction, is to break the rule of never crossing the energy streams of the Ghostbusters’ blasters.
- Experimental composer John Cage’s composition 4′33″ is famous for including not even a single note of music. Four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. The emptiness is filled with the listeners thoughts. The performance becomes media art: the focus shifts away from the stage to the ambience of the audience. Cage, who was said to have been into Zen Buddhism, called it his most important work.
- In storytelling, the protagonist will often get an opposite counterpart to contrast their traits.
3) In Marketing
Just as common as highlighting the compelling features of a product it is to point out everything it isn’t or simply doesn’t contain.
“Art is a lie, but it is a lie by which we know the truth.”
– Pablo Picasso
4) In Rhetoric / Conflict
It can also have a much greater effect to obviously state the opposite of what you’re saying than to tirelessly try to make a point. Sarcasm as the obvious opposite statement is often much stronger than a good argument.
When I was living with The Whitest Kids U’ Know (👇) in New York I kept getting asked why it was that we Germans loved David Hasselhoff so much. It seems to be a stereotype Americans are obsessed with! I was asked about it at parties, I was asked about it at a bar, I was asked about it on an airplane. Whenever I tried rejecting the image of Hoff-loving Germans I drowned in endless discussions. Nobody wanted to hear a word I was saying. I was quite frustrated until one day, I tried the opposite. I was so fed up with hearing the question I replied “Germans love him so much because David Hasselhoff is the greatest living actor, singer, and the best human being who ever walked this planet.”
There it was. The answer that turned out to completely satisfy everyone. People would just smile admittedly, revealing their question being bullshit. I was free. Instead of denying I had excessively admitted, and succeeded.
It was the hasslesite. The opposlehoff.
In case you get in a fight and your opponent doesn’t believe in ‘opposite day’:
Instead of blocking an attack / trying to stop an attacker’s movement a martial artist will amplify the attacker’s force and use it to throw them off balance. 🥋
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
– Sun Tzu (The Art of War)
5) In Life
Certain situations are like a finger trap: only the exact opposite of your instinct can free you, or even save your life. Like not trying to extinguish burning fat with water. Stanislav Petrov even saved the whole world by doing the opposite of what he was supposed to, disobeying orders against Soviet military protocol. The whole universe is held together by opposite forces. Hell, there’s even a Seinfeld episode called “The Opposite”.
The examples are endless:
- Teasing as a sign of affection
- “Opposites attract”
- Traveling thousands of miles to appreciate your home
- Adding a little salt to hot chocolate to make it taste better
- The duality of Yin & Yang as opposite concepts
- It’s the hub that makes a wheel usable. It’s the holes that make a house livable. It’s the pauses that make a rhythm work.
- Only when ready to let go will you have 2 hands free
- The Jedi as the root of all evil because they put the universe out of balance which created the dark side to begin with…
“[…] Matters of great concern should be treated lightly. […] Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”
– Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
6) In Meetings
Gerald Hüsch describes how you can increase the effectiveness of meetings by pointing out what you’re *not* going to talk about. Hüsch groups meeting objectives into 9 categories: facilitation, problem definition, goal setting, ideas & options, evaluation, decision making, implementation, review, and appreciation. He claims the root cause of unproductive meetings lies in mixing those categories up within the same conversation. To prevent this, he suggests announcing the objective of a meeting at its start. One should then clearly point out what categories will be excluded. Most importantly, he talks about getting a buy-in from all meeting participants. For instance:
“In this meeting, we will talk about ideas and options. We will not discuss or make any decisions. Is that okay for you?” As soon as somebody crosses over to an unwanted category the meeting must be steered back to its official objective.
07) In Design
There’s countless examples of creatively using negative space as part of the design, like in these famous examples:
08) In Product Management
One of the core challenges of a product manager is learning to see things from the user’s perspective. Unaware of any of the thoughts and ideas poured into the product, how will the user see it? They’ll have a complete opposite view on the product and make up their own minds. Regardless of how all the great ways your product can be used– will they even bother? It helps finding all possible arguments against the proposed value of your product.
We’ve already looked at how to write a clear product vision to help you focus your activities. Apart from defining what it is that your product has to offer you should also collect all the reasons why people will most likely not use your product. What is it your product fails to deliver?
Knowing What it’s Not
Let’s come back to the story of the pretty product people (PPP) and their dilemma workshop. You know, the ones with the tight pants and the blurry concept from the beginning of the article. Turns out they could all precisely describe what their concept should *not* be. All they had to do then was to invert their detailed description.
This technique can be immensely helpful. Highlighting the negative space of something can shine new light on the actual thing itself.
“I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.”
– Michelangelo
From business strategy to brand identity, from target audience to visual design. Be certain about all directions you do not want to go, about everything you are looking to avoid. The more detailed the negative image the better, like the shape of a mold/cast.
Conclusion
Next time you’re stuck, do not worry. Whether your prototype sucks or your concept blows: give it a try and go the opposite direction. Just as a leaf blower and a vacuum cleaner do the exact opposite, in the end they both serve the same purpose.
“Failure usually works for me in the end.”
– David Hasselhoff
By the way. I am a product person at Future Forms ❤️, a design and development studio in Germany. Swing by www.futureforms.studio and say hello! I’d like to thank everyone who gave me hints and examples for this article.
