Why did curiosity kill the cat?
The role of curiosity in design.
As a designer publishing his first blog post, I think this is a good topic to start off our conversations with.
Ground Zero
Before I begin, let me confess that I am not a proficient writer. Nor do I use words or expressions that will compel you to quote me (although I do wish that someday you do). I am just an average guy who is curious to think about things around him and ask questions. In the process, I just wish to express my thoughts, experiences and opinions. I’d be happy if this leads to a conversation wherein some of you may align with my thoughts, while others who wouldn’t, may at least think about them, but more importantly, make ME think about them again.
The Curious Case
I was once interviewing a candidate. After a few rounds of questions, I asked him: “You are competing with 20 other designers for the same role, what would you say is that one unique thing in you which I should hire you for and not one from the rest?” His almost instantaneous answer was: “I am curious”.
The word ‘curious’ caught my attention and made me very curious. So, I asked him why he considers himself curious (and it to be a differentiating quality).
“I like to solve problems around me”, he said.
“Okay but isn’t everyone (and not just designers) supposed to do so? As in, every task is a problem to solve.”
“Yes, but I like to solve each and every problem around me”, he said with an emphasis on ‘each and every’.
For a moment I was blank and did not have any follow up question but then I tried to take a different route. “So, what does ‘curiosity’ mean to you?” I asked. He said something but that sounded more like a blabber and then I decided to give it one last chance.
“Ok. Why do you think curiosity killed the cat?”
This time, he seemed to be taken aback, as if trying to ask me “Are you serious?” But I was! He started sweating and getting visibly uncomfortable. I tried to tell him that there is no one answer to my question and that I am only trying to know his thoughts. All he said was “I have no clue. I really have no clue.”
You must have guessed by now that the guy didn’t make it through.
So what’s the answer?
Some of you may well be wondering what was I expecting to hear from him or what is the correct answer. As far as the story behind the idiom is concerned, till the time I asked this question, I myself wasn’t aware of it. You can find it here but essentially it talks about not asking too many unnecessary questions.
Those of you who found my interview questions unnecessary/irrelevant must be smiling now. However, if we start looking for the right answer, it means that we have missed the point.
I gave the candidate a blank canvas with some colors to sketch any picture that he wished to and, since he was a designer and not an artist, all I expected in return was that it should make some sense. It could have been a hypothetical incident or even a joke for that matter. Any thought or opinion would have been welcomed. Something…anything!
Curiosity and Designers
This incident made me think about the very idea of being a designer. As designers, we constantly struggle to survive in a world that seems to be after just getting some pretty designs done and in one-fourth the time. In the process, we often end up focusing on finding the ‘right’ answers (solutions) but fail to ask the right questions.
And who decides the definition of ‘right’? Obviously, the HIPPOs (highest paid people in the organization). So essentially, we end up designing that one ‘right’ design for that HIPPO and later when it is tested on users, it often fails/breaks.
I feel that to be curious should be the most important requirement of being a designer. It is almost dangerous to not be curious. Dangerous, as it risks not only the money and resources spent on a project, but more importantly, the value of the profession of design.
Someone had added to the idiom as: ‘curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back’. As a designer, I cannot help but laugh at this. Curiosity is the basic reason why I am what I am; and I would probably cease to grow if satisfied. Would Newton have discovered gravity if he was satisfied with the ‘obvious’ and fortunate fall of an apple to the ground for him to pick up and eat?
“Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.”
- Arnold Edinborough
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