{"id":291,"date":"2016-11-05T02:10:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T06:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dflgrouptest.local\/?p=291"},"modified":"2017-06-30T04:33:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T08:33:05","slug":"discovery-designed-life-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designed-for-life.org\/GMtCh34S\/discovery-designed-life-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery of the Designed For Life Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Vanilla<\/p>\n

Like every foundational theory, Designed For Life was not conceived, or created; it was first observed, or discovered. It was the fabled apple that fell on the head of Newton which led to his discovery<\/em> of gravitational theory. It was the imagination of Einstein which allowed him to ride on a beam of light and observe<\/em> the effects that his special theory of relativity had on space, time, and gravity\u2014thereby building on Newtonian \u201cknowledge\u201d already accepted to be true. In our case, it was a couch, of all things, that led to the discovery<\/em> of this Designed For Life framework and our eventual realization that in its simplest form, it could be applied to nearly any system and facilitate a lot of good for the world. I believe that one day, much of what we\u2019ve discussed throughout this text, from our distorted economy to the designed-for-life approach itself, will evolve from theory to knowledge. Time will tell.<\/p>\n

\"Designed

Sactionals: Our first truly designed-for-life product<\/p><\/div>\n

Sactionals look like just about any other couch. A Sactionals couch certainly looks nice, but there is nothing very special about its form or style. Aesthetically they are pretty straightforward\u2014somewhat boxy, but not overly \u201cmodern,\u201d their low-back straight contemporary lines relaxed by their taller, rounded-rectangular cushy back pillows. In fact, after much user-testing and research we have confirmed that we have successfully created what is aesthetically: the most vanilla couch possible. The average beholder is unlikely to have any idea that they are in the presence of the impetus for this entire design movement.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Sactionals were designed<\/em> to look relatively benign. Vanilla is still the world\u2019s number one selling flavor of ice cream, after all. The fact that a Sactionals couch is machine washable, changeable, reconfigurable, expandable, durable, customizable, stackable, stockable, drop-shippable, moveable, storeable, and of course comfortable is masked by its elegant simplicity and unassuming beauty\u2026because that<\/em> is what people want. A good looking couch. Nobody wants a couch that looks<\/em> like it\u2019s a Transformer. Nobody wants a couch that looks<\/em> like it has a slip-cover that can be washed. But for couches that Sactionals might be compared to functionally, all others fall prey to that shortcoming\u2014they just don\u2019t look great. It is the classic form or function trade-off.<\/p>\n

People want beautiful products and tragically, will often forego functionality to get them. Other people want functional products and will often compromise on aesthetics to get the functionality they need. It is rare that a product can do both\u2014across a wide range of tastes, needs, and demands. It is more rare that a product can adapt to changing tastes, needs, and demands as they change. What\u2019s more, it is (heretofore) nearly non-existent for a product to last long enough to need to<\/em> adapt to life\u2019s ongoing changing tastes, needs, and demands, while achieving a level of hedonistic design sophistication and beauty that can be widely accepted. A product that can do all of that at once, is a supremely competitive product in its category for sure. Sactionals can do all of that.<\/p>\n

For this reason, Sactionals have quietly, over the past decade or so since their conception, grown in popularity and acceptance in their industry. At the time of this book\u2019s writing, annual sales of this \u201cremarkable\u201d product represent only 0.4% of the annual $17 billion dollar couch industry\u2026but sales have been growing, sans advertising, at a growth rate that is 11 times that of the couch industry as a whole\u2014driven mostly by word of mouth.<\/p>\n

…More to come…<\/em><\/p>\n

— Shawn