Scrapyard Warriors – A Kickstarter Campaign that Challenges Convention

“Why do we assume simple is good? Because with physical products, we have to feel we can dominate them. As you bring order to complexity, you find a way to make the product defer to you. Simplicity isn’t just a visual style. It’s not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. To be truly simple, you have to go really deep.”

Jonathan Ive – Senior Vice President, Industrial Design – Apple (2012 Interview)

“Interesting playthings typifying the spirit of America.” Lincoln Logs’ motto, unlike the wooden buildingstuffs themselves, did NOT stand the test of time.

As a child in the 70’s, things were simple. Examples abounded in every medium, no exhaustive list necessary. Toys were one. One of the earliest “toys” to capture my imagination was Lincoln Logs. I remember constructing and deconstructing creation after creation, each one different from its predecessors. Wooden logs were soon replaced with plastic bricks. Legos. Different shapes and sizes and all interconnectable, Legos were the natural progression, and from a design perspective, were actually less limiting than the pre-tapered logs, which only had three colors, (green “planks,” brown “logs,” red “trusses”), and only so many combinations. Legos had a different aesthetic. They were colorful cleated cuboids. Nothing else. Everything imaginable was now buildable, not just fences and rustic homes. There were no rules, no “instructions,” no direction, just possibilities.