Weekend innovation tip: Create new products and services using subtractive thinking

How do you create new products and services that deliver new value?

Using subtractive thinking by:

Additive

+ Create: Develop by designing from scratch
+ Improve: Build upon by enhancing what already exists

Subtractive

- Reduce: Minimize by taking down to the bare essentials
- Eliminate: Remove by doing away with entirely

Subtractive thinking applies to Business Models, Product Design and Brand Development. Here are some successful examples:

• Saturn removed negotiations from the car buying experience.
• Subway removed the traditional kitchen from the fast food restaurant.
• Netflix removed the storefront from video rentals.
• Little Caesar’s removed the restaurant from the pizzeria.
• Apple removed complexity from the user interface.
• Yellow Tail removed the pretension from selecting wine.

Credit: Black Coffee