Sisters and Friends
Chapter 19
three months later in Boston; Art and Design Buildling, Raft University
Gameface
"Haroun, thank you," Quinn murmured as they walked the corridor to the seminar rooms. "I couldn't have done this without your help."
"Hey, it was great working on this project. Daria somehow managed to get me independent project credits even though I had missed the paperwork deadlines. Besides, all this really was your idea. I just did some grunt work for you."
Quinn smiled. He was so unassuming, but so capable at what he did. He carried himself with a quiet confidence, and he somehow managed to bring calm to a tense situation. She had been grateful for that; even over a videocall he managed to keep her centered and focused during the final software integration check. She was a bundle of nerves; Millie was fretting as the test- Jake's financial workup and tax file- loaded. Quinn had glanced at Haroun on the laptop's screen; he had simply smiled at her. It'll be fine, Quinn, this is a great idea. This is going to work.
And it did. Jake's taxes were processed, checked, printed out and in his hands within thirty minutes.
They sat outside the glass-fronted room; they had arrived with a comfortable few minutes to spare. He had insisted that she have some tea and a short walk before entering the Design building. She glanced through the glass; the prior interview candidate was gathering his presentation boards and thanking the committee. They were beautiful renderings, Quinn thought, although it was hard to determine just what they were renderings of. The guy was smiling, but still tense; it seemed to her that it had not gone all that well. He was shown out of the room, and gave her a grim look as he turned to go down the hall.
She was up next.
Her renderings of some product concepts she had done weren't nearly as polished as his had been. She had just begun to get the hang of her copy of Rhinocerous, the 3-D design and rendering software that Jane had suggested. Annie had been a great help; she was well familiar with design software.
Still, she had her own presentation and press kit for Mosaic. Based on the last numbers Millie had emailed her, commercial sales were going well. She and her team had succeeded; Jake's decision to push via the two major trade publications servicing the CPA and Tax Preparation industry had been sound.
She could see the tone of the post-interview discussion going on in the seminar class; the shaking heads, the animated gestures. The Raft Industrial Design admissions committee was a tough crowd.
"Quinn, you'll do fine. You're a fresh designer that has created a product that will take its target industry by storm. You have a natural talent for this; you are a brilliant woman in your own way, just like your sister Daria. You're a leader that has the confidence and the honesty to credit others that have helped you with this project. Not many people have the character to do that." He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.
Just then, the door pushed open, and a gray haired man smiled at her. "Quinn Morgendorffer?"
Both of them stood, and Haroun handed her the rather thin presentation portfolio. "I'll see you in thirty minutes, Quinn. I won't stick around out here just to make you nervous."
Dr. Ron Maas held the door open for the young woman, smiling as he recognized her. He introduced himself and the rest of the admissions committee, and then, taking his seat, passed the floor to Quinn.
"Thank you for this chance to make my case for admission to your program. I trust you've all had a chance to look over my essay and CV, such as it is. I do have a modest number of renderings for some simple product concepts, which you'll see need a lot of work; we can get those out of the way first. I am, after all, seeking to develop my ideation and presentation skills in this program, but I do hope that you'll be able to decide if I have sufficient potential for you to work with."
"No need for the preemptive apologies, Ms. Morgendorffer," said Dr. Maas simply. "We're mostly curious about your interests, the way you think, and the state of your problem solving skills."
Quinn began by quickly going through her modest set of presentation boards. "As you can see, in these concept renderings I'm principally addressing the needs of an aging population. Function and usability is of primary importance to me; I must say that these focus less on the styling and the aesthetic components of the ideas. I'm not saying that I think them less important; it's just that I feel that without a clear utility a product has no business being offered to society. The actual appearance of the products is something I hope to refine in your program."
She put her best concept board forward. "This is a rethinking of the common walking cane; something that I believe is currently based on historic precedent rather than a deep analysis of user models. Traditional designs assume good hand and wrist strength and dexterity and tend to be more fashion accessories rather than functional tools. This concept focuses on the utility of the walking cane for the elderly and infirm, and is based on my belief that the forearm is more capable of supporting and maintaining the user's posture. It more resembles the dynamics of a ski pole than a common bentwood cane, and should be easier and more effective to use."
The audience seemed interested, and a few made brief notes on the clipboards they held.
Quinn carried on, answering questions briefly without digression. Finally, ten minutes into the interview, she lifted the presentation case for Mosaic, setting it at the head of the table.
Taking a deep breath, Quinn continued. "I'd like to get into what I think is the meat of this interview. I challenged myself to come up with a real product to show you; this I believe you will find interesting in spite of it's rather rudimentary physical form. I've focused on the ideas that are the real value here, and I'm sure that with the opportunity to study here with you my designs will be much stronger.
"I observed my father, an independent management consultant, fighting with the task of pulling his financial records together for tax filing. Some of that stress was due to the nature of the task, but most of it was due to his own nature. He's not an organized or disciplined person, so his accountant normally asks him to pull everything together with a two month lead on her standard preparation records deadline. I wanted to help him, so I pulled a team together to come up with a remedy. This product eliminates eighty percent of the complexity and stress of gathering and organizing business records for tax filing." Quinn smiled as people began to sit up in their seats.
"This is the Mosaic system, a very simple concept that allows people to just pile their documents and records into a single stack, the only discipline needed being the entry of a simple code identifying the kind of document, as well as the amount and date of the financial event. You can arbitrarily enter documents when you have time to do so, in any order, for any kind of expense. You do not have to collate or total by type; you simply correctly enter the required data fields and drop the document down, into this bin. It's not much different than the shoebox or paper bag that accountants often have to deal with, except that the user is prompted to insert a stiff, brightly colored tabbed sheet- a full separator sheet- into the stack every so often by the software.
"Doing so creates a stratified file of documents. Typically one tab sheet is placed between groups of twenty documents. Of course, this could have been done using manila file folders, but doing so would tend to remind people of existing filing systems, and these tab sheets are cheaper. Notice that documents are to be dropped flat onto a growing stack; this would also allow smaller receipts to be layered more evenly, keeping the height of the stack smaller.
"By identifying each document with a type, amount and date, and following the tab sheet prompt, the system will be able to automatically keep track of where in the stack any particular document is physically located. Once you've identified it and dropped it into the box, you can forget about it. You look at it once. After you're done, this binder strap compresses the stack into a bale, reassuring the user that the problem has been dealt with and the information can be found right here."
A voice arose from the back. "So if your accountant or an auditor needs to see a particular invoice or receipt, the system will indicate where in the stack it can be found?"
"Yes. It simply tells you how far from the top or bottom, by the number of tab sheets. When someone wants to retrieve a document, the bin is opened from the tabbed side. At that point only, it looks like a file drawer."
"And the software prebins data for handoff into a standard tax preparation software package?" Another voice, immediately grasping the concept.
"Absolutely," smiled Quinn. "You obtain this product from your tax preparer, who personalizes the interface for you based on the nature of your enterprise. By doing so, Mosaic is thus distributed through existing and trusted channels to the end user. You don't have to total or check figures, and the cumulative error rate is the same or lower than existing methods, with far less effort. And based on the almost random data entry structure, the IRS believes that fraud would be less likely when a user implements this system."
"What about individuals?" mused Dr. Maas. "I'd like to use this myself."
"Personal use sales can also be handled by your accountant, if you use one. They only need to know how to contact us; just give them this card. Otherwise, you'll have to wait a little; my father, who is now taking over the business that was built around Mosaic is in preliminary talks with companies that market personal tax preparation and financial software."
"Are you saying, Ms. Morgendorffer, that Mosaic is a real product, being sold now?" Dr. Maas smiled.
"Oh, yes. As I said, my father is the CEO of Mosaic, and all of my team members are equity stakeholders. We are privately held, and have filed for intellectual property protection: we have an aggressive in-house legal consul in place to handle infringement and counterfeiting issues."
Quinn pulled up a final presentation board. "I may have seen the need, and directed the creation and implementation of the solution, but I certainly could not have done this all myself. These are the people that made Mosaic real. I couldn't have a better team than my parents, sister, and friends."
Haroun arrived exactly thirty minutes later to find a very happy Quinn waiting for him.
"I'm taking everybody out to dinner," she announced, giving him a hug. "I'm buying, and you're coming."
"I assume it went well?"
"I got a bunch of free consulting for Mosaic from a roomful of top Industrial Designers. The upshot was that they wouldn't change a thing. Oh, and I got in."