The Appropriate Tool
I’m visiting my sister and her family this weekend, and I’m just at the outset of a personal project. I assumed that lugging my MacBook Air and iPhone along would keep me in working order for the trip.
But I find myself missing my aging, generation 1 iPad.
The stage this project is at, I need to try a bunch of things. Mock up pages, try text styles, play. And for whatever reason, my laptop doesn’t feel like the correct tool for that. So it’s stayed in my bag more or less since I’ve gotten here.
I’ve been scribbling in Evernote since the drive here began, and adding to my notes and ideas. But I haven’t pulled out a notebook, because I fear that leaving too much of this project on paper will stall me on this page. I need to play with content.
The bigger issue though, is context. In a family social setting, I can play with my phone or tablet without getting a second look. A laptop or notebook, however, creates an assumption that you want to be left alone.
There are jobs, in passive creation, where the iPad has become my ideal device. And this is the power of creating new categories: you find undiscovered use cases.
The short version is, there’s not always a justification until a reason for one is created. If you create a compelling tool, people will create a use for it.
A good enough product can create market fit.
