- #THE DESIGNM IN THE BOTTOM OF A GOBAN FOR FREE#
- #THE DESIGNM IN THE BOTTOM OF A GOBAN UPDATE#
- #THE DESIGNM IN THE BOTTOM OF A GOBAN FREE#
Only the very best designs now stand out from the crowd, given the rapid rise in consumer expectations driven by the likes of Amazon instant access to global information and reviews and the blurring of lines between hardware, software, and services. All of these are constant reminders of the way strong design can be at the heart of both disruptive and sustained commercial success in physical, service, and digital settings.ĭespite the obvious commercial benefits of designing great products and services, consistently realizing this goal is notoriously hard-and getting harder. Maybe these gobans should be tournament prizes?Īnother idea is a pay-what-you-want feature.We also all know iconic designs, such as the Swiss Army Knife, the humble Google home page, or the Disneyland visitor experience. If we try the funding-in-advance route, we will also need to develop a way to identify recipients in advance. But if we took the donations first, and only made available the number of gobans that could be shipped based on the results, then what if the support didn't materialize? I was willing to take the chance, and we'll see what happens. In retrospect, doing a traditional Kickstarter would have been much easier. We support doing this as an Honor system in the future. That's not a bad idea, but creating applications and a vetting process seems like a huge burden. Someone suggested making the program only for Students or small clubs. Players who selected a table board or small/medium goban can expect delivery by Japan Post in the next 3 months, while players who selected a large goban (and paid for the required FedEx upgrade) can expect delivery in 2 weeks.
#THE DESIGNM IN THE BOTTOM OF A GOBAN UPDATE#
Donations are trickling in, so we will leave the page up and continue to update it until we cover the shipping costs or give up. We donated the value of the boards themselves, but shipping is a considerable expense. We hoped our Gift-A-Goban page would operate like a Kickstarter, but in reverse, with a global player base helping to fund the project. However, I didn't like the possibility of having our website glitch out if dozens of people were attempting to check out at the same time. We could have created a lottery system, but any random process with prizes is sure to run afoul of gambling regulations. We could have set a starting time, like an Easter Egg hunt. Our apologies to the rest of the world that was asleep during all of this.
#THE DESIGNM IN THE BOTTOM OF A GOBAN FREE#
Hundreds of visitors from the US, Canada, and UK snapped up the free options within hours. The RushĪ dozen floor boards and a half-dozen table boards went fast. We announced the program via our newsletter, and then social media.Īt the same time, we created a Gift-A-Goban page for players to donate toward the shipping cost of the free boards.
#THE DESIGNM IN THE BOTTOM OF A GOBAN FOR FREE#
Powered by hope, we made 18 boards available for free on our shop and let them find their own homes. We used a simple first-in first-out method, where the first customer got the board that had been in the warehouse the longest (with some allowance for taste, as customers were able to select the size of Goban they wanted).
We could simply dispose of a dozen and a half boards, and cut our losses right there. Or we could double our costs by shipping the boards. Spring Cleaning was on our mind, but we faced a difficult decision. Some of our boards had been sitting in the warehouse since 2020, and storage costs were continuing to accrue. We are a long way from recouping our expenses, but it was very exciting! The Goban Supply This weekend we gave away 18 gobans! There are hundreds of players who would love to have a goban but can't bear the cost, and we were thrilled to have met even a little of the great demand that exists for quality gear.
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