In both the low-tech etch-a-sketch and the hi-tech iPhone, the device is merely a framework within which you are free to express yourself.  The key is that they are both so intuitive to use.

The classic etch-a-sketch…  What an example of great design.  It’s not an accident that it is such an iconic toy.  Creating something with the etch-a-sketch is a combination of creativity and strategy, and this is one of the main reasons why this toy is so much more fun than paper and pencil.

The etch-a-sketch can be used by anyone with a few fingers, yet it provides an endless outlet for creativity.  It also evens the playing field in drawing while ridding you of the permanence of real drawing.    If I were writing an instruction manual for it, it would have two words: just play. A lot more things should be designed that way.

One recent example of something that is designed that way is a much more hi-tech toy: the iPhone.  The iPhone is pretty much a blank slate when you just look at it.  It is amazingly intuitive.   For example, a friend recently told me that his 2-year old daughter figured out the “slide to unlock” mechanism on the iPhone in seconds (even though, of course, she could not read the text instructions on the screen).  To a large degree, what you can do with the device is not strictly dictated by the hardware.  The flexibility of the iPhone allows users and software developers to unleash their imaginations.

Although a generation apart, the Etch-a-sketch and the iPhone share much in their  use of design principles.