Creative Think

Using the Ball of Whacks With ADHD Students

It's neat to create something, and then to have people use it in ways you never thought about.

Such is the case of the Ball of Whacks.

We recently received the following delightful letter from Monica Ciurej, MSW, who is a school social worker. She writes about using it with her ADHD students.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hi!

I am a school social worker and have used the Ball of Whacks to demonstrate the ability to re-organize, calm, increase self-esteem and cope with difficulties.

In teaching re-organization to students with ADHD, I've found the Ball of Whacks to be a good teaching tool. You break the ball down, and then you put it together one piece at a time, just as you would complete one problem at a time on a worksheet. And before you know it it's put together or done.

Secondly, I use the ball to distract kids from anger, crying, and agitation. Even if they "break" it they can put it back together. Applied to their emotions, they see how one blow-up can be fixed and life gets put back together and we keep on "rolling" on.

Students are encouraged to try making different objects and shapes with the Balls pieces. After they've successfully made a new shape, their self-esteem improves.

Lastly, the Ball of Whacks is great at teaching coping strategies for kids who might be anxious or nervous. This helps keep their hands busy and is quiet enough for the classroom environment and is not disruptive.

When the students feel like things are "broken," the Ball of Whacks is a great visual of how we can fix things with a little support (magnets) and keep making mistakes and start over.

It's also a great ice-breaker for kids I'm meeting for the first time.

Thanks Again,

Monica Ciurej, MSW

Thank you, Monica. Good luck to you and your students!

Higher Prices From China

In one of my businesses, I deal with China on an almost daily basis. I'm referring, of course, to the Ball of Whacks which is manufactured in China (but "Designed in California!" as Apple would put it).

I just spent the past week negotiating the BOW prices for 2008. They're higher than I thought they'd be. There are a variety of factors:

• Higher plastic costs
• Higher labor costs (due in part from the Chinese government)
• Higher magnet costs (commodity prices continue to soar)
• Weakness of the dollar

I plan to keep the retail price the same as it has been since 2006, but the cost increase does squeeze our margins.

I share this information with you, because many of our everyday products are imported from China. At some point, businesses will have to pass along these costs to the consumer (especially when their margins are narrow). I wonder what this bodes on the inflation front.

Speaking of Chinese imports, shown above is a cartogram that displays World Container Shipping. Each country is sized according the number of containers that are shipped either in or out of that country.

I wonder what impact rising Chinese prices will have on the world economy. What do you think?

The Wisdom of A Recovering Stroke Victim

Over the years, people have used my various products (books, card decks, software, tools) to stimulate their creativity and/or amuse themselves.

Yesterday I discovered the following video made by "Bill from Richmond" last April. Bill is a recovering stroke victim and the video is a "letter" of sorts to his grandchildren. The production value isn't high, but I think Bill's enthusiasm and openness to life come through clearly.

The four-minute video was made in Bill's home studio. It starts slowly, but "Bill" grows on you. He explains why "Grandpa isn't senile." About halfway through, Bill provides his grandchildren with a simple tip to a fuller life. You can tell he's having a great time. (Check out the cool stuff Bill has in his lab.)

Needless to say, this video made my day! As Bill says, "Play with it!"

QVC Sells 4,000 of My Balls in 5 Minutes!

Want to hear about something fast?

Last June, QVC (the $9 billion a year television retailer) approached us about doing a one-time sale of our amazing Ball of Whacks. We said, "Why not?" and produced a special order for them of 4,000 yellow Balls of Whacks.

We didn't know what would happen. Would we eat the order? Would there be a tepid response? Would their audience get it?

Here's what happened.

Last Friday evening, QVC had a six-hour pre-holiday promotion from 6 PM to Midnight. The Ball of Whacks went on the air at 8:14 PM.

Veteran QVC presenter Bob Bowersox opened the slot by saying, "Last night I took the the Ball of Whacks home with me and played with it for an hour. I got to tell you that it's better than Rubik's Cube." He then added, "It would take me the rest of his life to put a Rubik's cube together; the Ball of Whacks, however, is fun but not frustrating."

The phones went crazy! Over the next several minutes they received 2,064 calls. The entire order (just under 4,000 units) sold out in 319 seconds! That's 5 minutes and 19 seconds, or almost 800 Balls a minute. What fun! What an adrenaline rush!

As you can imagine, I developed a brand new appreciation for QVC's marketing clout.

[To get your very own Ball of Whacks (in red, blue, or tri-color), go here!]

Could You Go A Day Without "Made In China"?

Do you think you could you go a day without products that are Made In China? How about a year? Alex at the Kango blog recently raised this question in connection with the publicity surrounding the recall of some Chinese manufactured products including toys, pet food, and apparel. I'll provide my personal answer at the end, but first a short background.

Historically, China has been a manufacturing powerhouse. This was true in antiquity (from 3rd century BC to approximately 3rd century AD), and again from roughly the 9th century into the 14th century. During these eras, Chinese products found their way to all the corners of the known world. Thus, what’s happening now with China’s current manufacturing capability can be viewed as a “return to form,” rather than something that’s without precedent.

Some groups have talked about boycotting Chinese goods, and/or buying only those made in the USA. I believe "that horse left the barn" a long time ago. It’s been some decades now that many western companies (and their customers) made the decision to have their products made in China. I think the typical consumer would rather pay less rather than significantly more for a comparable product. Simple economics.

Indeed, even if you wanted to manufacture a plastic product in the United States, you’d find that there’s only 40% of the molders here that there were 25 years ago. And you’d have to pay a lot more to have it done.

As many of you know, I designed a product (the Ball of Whacks: info at http://creativewhack.com) that is manufactured in China. I am quite pleased with my manufacturer. I have personally inspected their manufacturing facilities and have written about it: Manufacturing in China.

The Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial (August 13, 2007) stating that it is unfair to single out China for shoddy manufacturing. Poor quality products can come from all countries. The key thing, the Journal points out, for better products is to have better designed products in the first place.

Could I go a day without “Made In China”? I personally wouldn’t want to. Chinese products have enriched not only my life, but also the lives of many others as well. How about you?

"We Will Bury You!"

Wendy and I are in Moscow.

When I was growing up, one of the scariest people in the world (to me and many others) was Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1964. In 1962, he and JFK went eyeball-to-eyeball in the Cuban Missile Crisis and came close to starting World War III.

One of Khrushchev's most famous outbursts came in 1956 when he told a group of western diplomats: "We will bury you!" In the context of thermo-nuclear war, this outburst was chilling. But Khrushchev later said he meant that the Soviet Union and communism would outlast the West, and that "we would come to your funeral to put dirt on your grave." 

Today we visited the Novodevichy Cemetery where a number of Russian and Soviet notables are buried. I saw the graves and monuments of such people as: Boris Yelstin, composer Dmitri Shostakovich, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, former first lady Raisa Gorbachev, foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, Olympic champion high jumper Valery Brumel, and playwright Anton Chekhov.

I also visited Khrushchev's grave (he died in 1971), and took great pleasure in placing the Ball of Whacks next to the monument head. For as much as he scared me when I was a kid, I thought I'd have a little fun now!

Actually, as I've read more and more about Soviet history, Khrushchev comes off as one of the "good guys," at least in the context of what came before him (Stalin) and after (Brezhnev). He pushed for market reforms in agriculture, and also had the courage to denounce one of the worst tyrants and murderers of the twentieth century (Stalin).

I Receive A Patent from the USPTO

On July 24, 2007, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted me US Patent 7,247,075 for my design of the "right regular golden rhombic pyramid" which is the basic building block of the Ball of Whacks. You can read about it HERE in the USPTO's Full-Text Database.

As you can see, I'm very excited. I have other intellectual property including registered trademarks and copyrights, but this was my first patent.

I submitted my patent application to the USPTO on November 15, 2004. Thus, the whole process took over 32 months.

I wrote my own fifteen page patent application. Why did I do it myself and not turn it over to a patent attorney? There were three reasons.

• First, I didn't want to spend the $10,000-75,000 on a lawyer.
• Second, I thought it would be an incredible learning opportunity (which it was).
• Third, I wanted to see if a regular small-time inventor (me) would be able to figure out the patent arcana without a lawyer.

It took me about a month to write my application. Bill Seidel recommended that I read David Pressman's book, Patent It Yourself, which was an enormous help. My friend David Gildea (a registered Patent Agent and a fellow Stanford Masters swimmer) gave me some very useful advice — especially regarding "chaining claims." My CAD designer, Jason Hilbourne, also had some valuable pointers.

I'll be candid and say that dealing with the USPTO was "quite challenging." There were a lot of hoops to go through and hurdles to jump. I received several rejections, and had to write lengthy appeals. I had a number of phone conversations with my examiner and his supervisor.

There were times I considered giving up on the whole process. But I continued to press on. David Gildea gave me some good advice on "prior art and obviousness." Finally, in late May, I received word that my design was patentable and would be approved in July.

I learned a lot from the whole experience, including:

• Keep good records and make copies of them (things sometimes go missing at the USPTO);
• A regular, normal individual willing to put in the time and effort can get a patent; and,
• Be persistent, be persistent, be persistent.

Scoble Awaits iPhone, Plays with Ball of Whacks

Carnival atmosphere at the Palo Alto Apple store. Eminent blogger Robert Scoble (April profile) and his 13 year old son Patrick arrived early Thursday morning to be the first and second in line to get their hands on a new iPhone.

When I took this photo Thursday afternoon, there were about 20 or so people camping out. As you can see, the young ladies behind Scoble are really pumped up.

While he's waiting to get his hands on an iPhone, Scoble got his hands on the new Blue Ball of Whacks. The Ball of Whacks brought a big smile to his face (and should give him something to play with tonight as he sleeps in front of the store).

Lots of buzz. Local entrepreneurs and VCs. Zooomr TV was there, and CNBC will be there later. I got to spend 2 minutes telling their audience about the Ball of Whacks. Does the iPhone's Halo extend that far? Lots of fun!

What Brings a Twinkle to an Author's Eye

If you've ever written a book or created a new product, you know what a wonderful feeling it is to see your book (or product) in stores. The corollary is also true: if you can't find your product in stores, it's a frustrating experience.

My most recent product is the Ball of Whacks. It has been selling well, and people seem to enjoy playing with it. I was in New York recently and visited several high-profile stores that carry it. What joy!

The first was the Museum of Modern Art Design Store. Here is a shot showing its display. It's even got one of those little signs (off to the right) that treat it like a work of art: "Ball of Whacks. Roger von Oech. 2006." Real classy!

I got a photo of the store manager and asst. manager happily holding the Ball. They said that it sells well there.

I then walked up the street to the flagship FAO Schwarz store at 58th and 5th (right next to the new Apple store). Just as you walk in the door on the right is a big corner display with about 50 Balls of Whacks waiting to find new homes. Here's a customer taking a look. Often FAO has a person giving live product demonstrations, and I'm told that does wonders for sales.

 

An Evening With Virginia Postrel

Thanks to a heads-up from Diego Rodriguez (Metacool), I attended a lecture last night by writer/design-thinker Virginia Postrel at Stanford. (It was part of a the David Lui Memorial Lecture Series in Design.)

I had not met Virginia before, but I had a chance to chat with her before her lecture. She was warm and friendly. I thanked her for the kind things she had said about the Ball of Whacks in her blog, and I was glad she was having fun playing with it. We both acknowledged that it's nice to be mentioned in Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit blog because it creates, as she put it, "an Instalanche" of site visits.

Virginia then spent the next hour presenting her design ideas to the packed auditorium (mainly appreciative designers and design students). Among other things, she discussed the "design explosion." It makes good business sense to improve the aesthetic experience of products and places — to "make them special." She gave many examples for her points.

She singled out Starbucks as a company that has successfully used aesthetics as a strategic tool. Starbucks "is in the business of creating appealing social spaces for people." She went on, "Starbucks is to the age of aesthetics what McDonalds was to the age of convenience, and what Ford was to the age of mass production."

She also shared a number of ideas from her book Substance and Style, and then took questions for another twenty minutes. I asked her about Bruce Nussbaum's recent comments (in BusinessWeek) about "Are Designers The Enemy of Design?" She spoke about the growing DYI (Design It Yourself) movement, and also recognized that good professional designers are really knowledgeable and create some amazing things. She also adroitly handled questions about world music, and the availability of fresh produce in grocery markets.

Thanks Virginia for a fun, stimulating evening!

(BTW: here are some of Virginia's Ball of Whacks designs!)