On TV
or, our favorite pandemic pastime
It’s been a while since I’ve written, and in that time we entered an ongoing global pandemic. You might think that being confined to your home for over a year would yield unprecedented amounts of free time with which to do very many productive things, but somehow the reality of quarantine is different.
Conference participation, freelance work, and my full-time job notwithstanding, I’ve been doing what I think most of us have been doing: watching TV.
Sure, I could be using this time to brush up on my design history by watching industry favorites like Abstract or any of Gary Hustwit’s films - and maybe at some point I will. But in all honesty, those shows and films often stress me out, due to a slightly competitive nature and tendency towards imposter syndrome. Living through a pandemic is challenging enough without that extra anxiety, so I have a few alternatives to recommend - which are, of course, relevant to design in their own way:
The Repair Shop (Netflix)
I’m a sucker for gentle British TV shows (perhaps as an antidote to the anxiety of These Uncertain Times), and The Repair Shop is like a cross between Antiques Roadshow and The Great British Bake Off. The premise is simple: ordinary people bring in family heirlooms to be repaired by a collection of master craftsmen. It’s the perfect format to share a little history (seaside telescopes, anyone?) with practical knowledge (what’s inside an upholstered chair, anyway?) while also tugging at the heartstrings. Each episode is a welcome reminder that humans do form attachments to objects and if they’re well made, they will be not only worthy of repair but able to be repaired. The show is proof that good design and quality work endure and so we should seek to buy well, buy less, and repair more.
Taskmaster (YouTube)
Taskmaster is another of my beloved British shows, in which a set of contestants must complete a series of tasks set for them by the Taskmaster, Greg Davies, and overseen by his assistant (and creator of the show), Alex Horne. The tasks tend to be simple (“Eat as much watermelon as you can in one minute”) yet absurd (“Take a small wind-up man on an extraordinary journey”) and are vague enough to allow for interpretation but specific enough to ensure hilarity (“Land an egg, from a balcony, in a frying pan several metres away on a giant podium” leads to one contestant attempting to fill a raw egg with helium). It is a master class in lateral thinking, which is a skill essential for design and innovation. The show teaches you to question your assumptions, think outside of the box to find a novel solution to whatever task is in front of you, and stop taking yourself too seriously while doing so. Because the contestants are primarily comedians, it provides comic relief at the same time.
Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
I include Ted Lasso in this list not only because I’ll take any excuse to talk about my new favorite show, but also because I believe the character of Ted Lasso provides a strong example of a good design manager. Ted is an American football coach who finds himself coaching the other kind of football, Premier League soccer (another British tie-in for you!). This premise speaks directly to my aforementioned imposter syndrome but reveals the strengths that can come from feeling like an outsider. Having no experience with soccer, Ted has to trust his team (Coach Beard and the players themselves) rather than micromanage, and understand that good ideas can come from anywhere (like kit man Nathan). He gets to know everyone on his team as an individual in order to tap into their strengths and inspire them to play their best; he believes in each one of them. He has to be resilient in the face of failure and find ways to keep the team motivated (one of which is to “be a goldfish”). Perhaps most importantly, I believe Ted’s unbelievably indomitable spirit is fueled by the knowledge that work is only work and relationships between people are what truly matter - which is something we would all do well to remember.
Note: these views are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Nemera or the Insight Innovation Center.