The One-Inch Grid

I’m a terrible present wrapper. My cuts are always off line and i always have way too much paper on the ends of my package and not enough in the middle where i need the paper to meet. I’ve watched a long string of very good present wrappers ply their trade with no noticeable improvement in my own ability. Innovations in wrapping paper design that make it easier for me to cut the shape I want to cut are a christmas wrapping god-send for someone like me.

How do you improve on wrapping paper? It’s cheap, it’s easy to cut and fold, it’s easy to rip into and it’s easy to dispose of. Pretty perfect, all things considered.

Here’s how you improve wrapping paper: grid out the back side in one-inch squares for easier cutting.

Incremental improvement is the way to add value to a product that has already been universally accepted. You’d probably have a hard time getting people to try a product like “spray on wrapping paper,” for example. It’s too extreme. No one would use it, and the product would fail. That doesn’t mean that wrapping paper is perfectly designed and can not be improved. What it does mean is that improvement needs to be applied in a way that clearly adds value to the product without scaring away people like my mother who have been using said product for decades.

Merry Christmas.