Hi DanielStraight, thanks for taking the time to reply, as you have helped me clarify some thoughts.
Firstly, I've tried this in person on about 20 people, and almost every one has reacted with "No Way!" and snatching the string from my hand to do it for themselves. They thought it simply had to be a trick, it couldn't be true! They were amazed.
I agree, pretty much all this says is that people are, in general, really bad at comparing height with circumference. The thing that interested me was that every one of them "knows" that C=pi.D. They still got it wrong, and it blew their minds.
I was hoping some people here would try it and have a similar reaction. It appears I was wrong.
However, the continuing point is this. The few who didn't get surprised, are surprised that others are surprised. To me, that says that they expect others to think as they do. For entrepreneurs this is the route to a quick and not-very-painless death for their enterprise(s).
I was intending this exercise to be an analogy for people, just as the color of the bike-shed is an analogy. Clearly my intent failed for you. You have taken it very literally, talking about the designers, and how the ratio might relate to usability.
That wasn't my intent, and I clearly failed in my intent, at least with you. So I have learned a lesson.
Firstly, I've tried this in person on about 20 people, and almost every one has reacted with "No Way!" and snatching the string from my hand to do it for themselves. They thought it simply had to be a trick, it couldn't be true! They were amazed.
I agree, pretty much all this says is that people are, in general, really bad at comparing height with circumference. The thing that interested me was that every one of them "knows" that C=pi.D. They still got it wrong, and it blew their minds.
I was hoping some people here would try it and have a similar reaction. It appears I was wrong.
However, the continuing point is this. The few who didn't get surprised, are surprised that others are surprised. To me, that says that they expect others to think as they do. For entrepreneurs this is the route to a quick and not-very-painless death for their enterprise(s).
I was intending this exercise to be an analogy for people, just as the color of the bike-shed is an analogy. Clearly my intent failed for you. You have taken it very literally, talking about the designers, and how the ratio might relate to usability.
That wasn't my intent, and I clearly failed in my intent, at least with you. So I have learned a lesson.
My readers aren't me.
I'll be thinking about that for a while.
Thanks again for your time.