[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Organization]] - People: [[Adam Savage]] - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVJhJ9J_QQo --- ## Summary - There is no one-size-fits-all solution for storing items, physical or digital. - Physical storage solutions must take into account available resources, while digital solutions must consider the nesting and naming of files and folders, as well as file export standards. - Labels should be optimized for clarity and respect the visual real estate of displays. - A cross reference list is a good way to accommodate intentional duplication of items. Automation can help construct these lists in digital space. ## Transcript January 29th. 2023 1102AM. Adam Savage, the best way to store materials. The the tipping point between build or buy for Adam, Is determined by efficiency. He will most likely start off with a very rudimentary simple solution for storage. Something that you can probably buy off the shelf such as a clear, art bin container. Over time, as more things get generally, stored in that container. And that container becomes full, that is the tipping point, where it becomes clear that a more customized solution, may be required to either, continue expanding to collect additional material or to better make sense of the material that the container contains This is slightly trickier when it comes to digital things because For playing files. We have effectively infinite space to store these plain files. And when space is not a constraint, it is very easy to neglect. How one? Thinks about and organizes there files. In the solution for this, as it is with physical material. Is structured organizational practices. However, The strictness of that structure. Will. Adjust based on. The volume or needs of that material and how often that material is accessed? And by how many people that material is accessed by. So for example, if there is a common material that is accessed by many The placement of that material must feel intuitive to most people. If something is rarely used or obscure. Or only used by a handful of people within a large organization. It would be better to tuck that away to provide more Visual real estate to the materials that are more commonly accessed. One concept that is very important in the physical world that is slightly difficult to apply in the digital world. Is the idea of having clear containers Clear, containers, can be a pro or a con They show their contents. And they do so proudly. That is very important and efficient because you are able to understand Approximately what the container contains. And how much the container contains? This gives context to the contents. However, If you have many clear containers, Arranged together with varying contents within. Even if the containers are neatly labeled It may add To. Visual noise. Of the cluster of containers, overall. Depending on individuals, this may work against them. That is where opaque containers are effective, because functionally they do the same thing. However, because of their opaqueness, they obscure, The contents inside therefore reducing visual noise however with that technique it is up to the user to make it intuitive. What the container contains either through Intentional labeling or intentional placement of that container. Context. Most always be communicated in some form. Otherwise, Regardless of whether the container is transparent or not, it'll feel like a black box to the user. Adam Savage feels like a purchased solution, does not maximize storage space, as well as a customized piece. In the physical world space is a real premium. In the digital world. The premium resides in. Attention and understanding of where one is in digital space. A similar example of this could be the Drop shadow. For characters in 3D games. I believe this was started when Nintendo created Mario 64. In order to make it more intuitive where Mario was in this new 3D space. The developers added a drop shadow to the character. This visually made it more clear. Where Mario was in relation to the ground because Mario, Is designed to be. Jumping all the time. In fact, that is probably Mario's number one mechanic. And this is exemplified by Mario's original name which was jump man. So that developers recognize that it would be difficult for their users to be a combinated to the new paradigm which was 3D games which involved 3D characters in 3D space. And they solved it with the elegant solution of adding, a semi transparent black circle on the ground. That synchronized. The movements of the character. On. All accesses set, access, y, axis, and z axis. The further Mario was from the ground. The smaller the shadow became just like in real life. Bringing this back to. How it applies to our space. We must recognize that it is very difficult. For users, especially those unfamiliar with the digital space to Way. Find themselves and to understand the space. They are in therefore we must organize our materials in a way. Leveraging almost standardized or expected patterns to help. Users. Orientate themselves. In. The digital space that is made up of conceptual files and folders. Something else that is notable about physical storage is the idea of standardized storage bins, This allows them to neatly stack on top of one another and to be slotted into place, Besides each other. How this applies to digital material? Standardization is the key. Therefore, the only thing we can really standardize for digital material is the Nesting of and naming of folders. Holders are the containers that we have to work with in digital space. Going beyond files and folders. Are the contents of The conceptual file and folder. In our case, it would be a collection of components and utilities. The. Export and availability of those things should be standardized across. Our storage system that is made up of. Files and folders. Enabled by the packaging bundling and build systems of the application. Another consideration for physical material is cost. Storage solutions in general are expensive, especially those that are Industry standard. Or of higher quality in general. How this applies to digital storage solutions in terms of cost? We don't have to worry about space when it comes to digital solutions, at least not for the materials that we work with. The most premium resource, we have to consider and work with is cognition. How quickly can one way find themselves when they are thrusted deep into hundreds of thousands of files? How can one way find themselves when they are? Given. A sigma file. With. Thousands of layers and shapes. And how can they successfully? Not only navigate to, but also. Contribute to and transform materials so that someone else can understand. Their work when it is handed off to other people. These are the resources that we have to be considered. These are the resources that we have to be considerate about. The understanding of materials and metaphorical digital space. And working cognition to understand work with transport and share. Materials in digital space. Previously Adam was adamant on the philosophy or approach that drawers are where things go to die. However, over the past 10 years, his Affinity for drawers has changed. He now loves drawers, especially for collecting similar materials. This is understandable because drawers offer that in a Mechanically convenient matter. Ergonomically. There is less movement and injury. Energy required to operate a drawer versus Moving and opening a container. Also drawers can be shallow, allowing you to better organize? Materials on a flat plane and then stack them on top of each other taking advantage of z axis space. It is a process, not a solution. It is a process to manage not a problem to solve. Or rather. It is not a problem to solve. It is a process to manage. When asked, what is the best way to store materials? Adam replied with there is no single solution. For this, there's no best answer. Ultimately, the answer is what do you need from the storage? If you're working with a significantly less material, then you can afford a very simple storage solution. Like many other things avoid over, engineering storage solutions, from the very beginning. Go with. Something simple that works. With room for growth and scalability over time. As you grow. You will come against the constraints of your existing solution. Recognize that this is normal and natural. And adjust. Your storage solution to accommodate the next phase of growth. Avoid building a warehouse. To contain a box of 10 things. Only consider getting a warehouse. If you have, A collection of a hundred thousand things. One thing to consider is the more stuff you have, the harder it is to remember what you have. So, make it your mission to Provide intuitive labels, markers and ways in which yourself and users are able to Comb through and quickly. Find what they need to get the job done. Sometimes you don't know what the thing. You need is to solve your problem. Sometimes. The solution announces itself when you see the material. Those are situations that can be accommodated by or accelerated by proper. Organization of your. Tools and resources. Whereby. By seeing the tools on offer. A user. Can then begin inspired. To solve the problem by using the tools directly. Something to recognize is that. Given the constraints of space time. And money. You may not be able to. Have a single storage solution for all things. You may have to work with a hodgepodge of various storage solutions. To inculminate. The materials. And the people working working with them, while respecting the constraints you are given. In terms of how shelves should be marked. Adam said that Tom Sacks gave him his favorite solution, which is a white out pen on a black background. That is A presto white correction pen. On top of black gaffe tape. Because of the contrast, it is the most visible marking. You can see across a respectable distance. Interestingly enough. Nowadays, Adam has issues with label mark makers. Devices specifically designed to create labels. I've experienced something similar in that the labels created by label makers. Have text that is simply too small to read at a distance. You should be able to see what something is. When it lives. Approximately three to five to seven feet away from where you are standing in a room. For example, I'm seated at my kitchen and I can very clearly see that. In the soap station, there is dish soap. And, Hand soap. Approximately. Seven feet away from me. There is a timer where I can see the word kitchen labeled on the top. Denoting that this timer belongs in the kitchen. The value of a label is reduced by the effort, it takes to identify what the label is. A really good label is one that balances. Readability at great distances while Producing. Overall. The overall footprint of visual noise. In context. Of things surrounding the label itself. Adam says, the best way to mark labels in a shop. Is with the clearest labels. That he can see from the far farthest away. And that's absolutely a Tom Sachs solution that he stole outright. For Adams more involved, storage solution, he uses Sortimo. The materials and the bins are arranged alphabetically, not only that, but he has crossed reference alphabetically arranged lists, for example, for quarks it is both under C and R C for corks. Are for rubber rubber comma corks. Cork comma rubber. The idea of cross-referencing lists is something that I've never thought about before, but I think there's tremendous value in that. In that, it takes a little effort to duplicate. Something to intentionally duplicate something, but to accommodate the unexpected, User inference of where something may be. So, for example, Bananas. If the banana is organic, it can be filed under B for banana comma organic or under o for organic comma banana. So as a user, if I'm looking for a list for food, Maybe I all I only care about organic things, so I'll Jump to O for organic and from that list, I will see banana. Or maybe I want bananas specifically so I'll jump to be for bananas and from the list, I will see that I have both organic and non-organic bananas. I think there's tremendous value in this cross reference list, something that I've never thought of before. Given that approach. Is there a way to either automatically? Generate a cross reference list, or Use. Automation to aid in the construction and connection of across reference list. That is something to think about. In summary. There is no best way to store something. The solution you use is dictated by the materials you have and the resources you have. Try not to over-engineer a storage solution. Ever. If you have 10 things, Do not look to rent a warehouse, you don't need it. You only need a warehouse if you have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of things. Try to apply. Storage considerations from the physical space, to the digital space. The primary problem we have in digital space is To acclimate. And orientate someone. In the abstract nest of digital files and folders. Therefore, The naming and nesting of files and folders is essential. Pattern of naming should be standardized so that a user can. Very quickly. Jump from one location to another when they are used to the structure and naming of files and folders. The offerings of files that being the materials that are being exported by them, should also be done in a standardized manner. This allows for users to intuit how to import tools and materials when they need. For both the physical and digital solutions labeling is essential. Labels should be. Optimized for maximum clarity. For the furthest distance possible. How this applies to digital materials is? For the file name to have essential keywords, allowing Users to quickly identify them in a file tree. Or to quickly fuzzy find them in something like a global search such as macOS spotlight. One thing in common between physical and digital files, and materials is Visual real estate. For the digital world. You are restricted by the amount of pixels your display. Provides. Therefore, The amount of files and folders presented. Should be. Organized in a manner that takes full advantage. Of yet, respecting the constraints of Your digital display. For example, if you had 1,000 files, Instead of presenting all 1,000 files in a flat manner, Something that is difficult to parse and understand. Given the visual real estate of a display. It is better to organize, those 1,000 files in perhaps 50 folders. Something new that I learned from watching. This video is an is the idea of a crossed reference list. A list that accommodates intentional duplication. Of items. To enable users to find the right things under different categories. For example. If you had bananas, it can be listed under B for bananas or O for organic bananas. Both of those entries would point to the same item But they accommodate different navigational. Experiences. At least from the start. Something to think about is how one would construct a cross reference list with in digital space, by either relying on or leveraging automation in some way.