Defining Plus Projects

Plus Projects is the name I’ve chosen as the ‘handle’ for what I’m up to these days. I’m always curious to know what people are thinking when they choose a company or initiative name, so here are a few thoughts and reasons behind this one.

plus /pləs/
With the addition of.

pro·ject /ˈpräjˌekt/
An individual or collaborative enterprise planned and designed to achieve an aim.

01. I want to connect as many dots as possible with each project. For example, I want to find myself saying, “I love what this project is trying to achieve. Plus, I love the people I’m working with. Plus, it aligns with my values. Plus, it’s a lot of fun.”

A good test for this is when I’m telling someone about a project, and they have to cut me off, and say, “I get it, you don’t need to go on.”

02. I associate ‘plus’ with enthusiasm and positivity.

03. People, ideas, decisions, hunches, reactions, are the addition of 100’s or 1000’s of previous thoughts, conversations, observations, etc. The addition of all these different pieces is what makes people and ideas unique and interesting.

04. I have always loved the saying from Josef Albers: “In design sometimes one plus one equals three.” I totally agree with that, when you combine thoughts, and/or people, the sum often doesn’t turn out the same way it does in mathematics. Here is a fun story that illustrates this idea.

05. Great ideas and insights seem to come from the addition of different opinions, or people,
or industries, etc.

06. ‘Plus’ represents collaboration and the building of ideas.

07. I love products that are modular and/or can serve multiple functions. In addition to people collaborating, I think products and services are best when they are designed to work with, or collaborate with other products.

08. I don’t think there is a choice between form and function, or that one follows the other, I believe it should always be form plus function. To me, good design, and ideas are always the addition of both

I love this quote: “Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don’t hesitate to make it beautiful.” Shaker design philosophy

09. I think many things can, and should be re-purposed. Not only would that be better for the environment, but it’s a lot of fun when we can find ways to extend the life, and interest of products. For example, maybe a shipping box is perforated so it can be folded into a DIY picture frame, or maybe it encourages you to reuse the box to ship old clothes to a shelter. Here is one example I saw recently from UPS, a reusable envelope.

10. Nothing is final. Sometimes when I write down thoughts, I end the sentence with a plus symbol rather than a period, because I always feel like there is more to build on the thought. The nature of learning is that some thoughts will always be evolving as you see and hear new things. I’m sure since the time I’ve posted this, I will probably want to tweak something, or add a thought…

Below are a couple of videos that I think are really interesting and talk about some related topics:

Matt Ridley: When Ideas Have Sex
Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From