Think Variant

08/27/2026

Every innovation starts with something that doesn’t exist yet.

This time the ask came from a puppet builder. The Hurt Monster is a character in a new puppet show who takes on humans’ pain, in front of a live audience. The question was how does the puppeteer make that transfer of emotions visible to the audience?

SpiritWire is our answer. A PCB designed by Think Variant that hands the puppeteer the ability to change the motion, the speed, and where on the puppet the emotion is seen: the heart, eyes, the arms.

These electronics help the puppeteer keep both hands on the puppet while the audience sees the puppet’s emotion.

From circuit board design, to writing the firmware, to populating the board, to creating the wire harnesses, all done in house at Think Variant.

The Hurt Monster premieres September 12-13 at Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY. From the Dusty & Dott company, with support from the Jim Henson Foundation

07/05/2026

The solution to one of the biggest frustrations in office work wasn't invented in an office.

It was borrowed from people who painted.

Once you see the connection, you'll wonder why no one thought of it sooner.

Read the story of the woman behind one of the most recognizable office inventions in history: https://thinkvariant.com/human-innovation-stories/painting-over-the-problem

How Bette Nesmith Graham invented Liquid Paper with a painter's trick and built a $47.5M company. The cross-disciplinary thinking behind Think Variant.

06/28/2026

A sewing machine repairman with a sixth-grade education invented a breathing device. Then hair care products. Then a traffic signal. Then he pulled on that breathing device, walked into a gas-filled tunnel, and dragged men out alive. He never had the training. He never asked permission. He just couldn't walk past a problem.

What problems are you walking past right now?

Meet Garrett Morgan: https://thinkvariant.com/human-innovation-stories/one-inventor

How Garrett Morgan, a sewing machine repairman with a sixth-grade education, invented a breathing device, hair care products, and the traffic signal. The mindset behind Think Variant.

03/27/2026

Every time you send a text, imagine this:
You have to translate each word you want to send into numbers. Then the person receiving it has to look up the number and then translate it back into words.

Every. Single. Message.
Slow. Easy to mess up. Hard to scale.

That’s exactly how early communication worked. Until Alfred Vail. While Morse gets the name of Morse Code, it was Alfred Vail who changed the approach. He replaced the complexity with dots and dashes.

Easy to send. And suddenly, it worked at scale.

Innovation isn’t always improving the system. Sometimes it’s questioning the assumption behind it.

Read the full story: https://thinkvariant.com/human-innovation-stories/why-dots-and-dashes

03/27/2026

Every time you send a text, imagine this:

You have to translate each word you want to send into numbers. Then the person receiving it has to look up the number… and translate it back into words.

Every. Single. Message.
Slow. Easy to mess up. Impossible to scale.

That’s how early communication worked. Until Alfred Vail.

While Morse gets the name of Morse Code, it was Vail who changed the approach. He replaced complexity with dots and dashes.

Simple signals. Easy to send. Hard to mess up.

And suddenly, it worked at scale.

Innovation isn’t always improving the system.
Sometimes it’s questioning the assumption behind it.

Read the full story: https://thinkvariant.com/human-innovation-stories/why-dots-and-dashes

Why did Think Variant show up with cardboard? The same reason Alfred Vail rebuilt Morse Code in 1837. Find the real problem before you build the wrong thing.

03/13/2026

When it came time to design Underground B**r Lab's tap handles, they wanted something that reflected their intention: Fresh. Local. Experimental.

Read the story behind it here:
https://thinkvariant.com/casestudies/tap-handles

Underground B**r Lab

Think Variant designed custom tap handles for Underground B**r Lab, turning their geometric brand identity into a functional design built for the bar and future innovation.

03/06/2026

Last week two of our co-founders Isaac and Stephanie Budmen gave a talk at the Everson Museum of Art about the not-so-straight journey creating the Please Touch version of Adelaide Robineau’s Scarab Vase, known as the Mona Lisa of Ceramics.

Then they shared the story of how they underestimated the monumental and elusive task of digitizing the Scarab Vase, how they had to challenge every assumption they started with, and what happens when you celebrate failure.

The evening ended with audience members having the opportunity to interact with the Please Touch version of the Scarab Vase, something that hasn’t been possible for 115 years.

Budmen Industries
Everson Museum of Art
📸 Payton Hirsch
Isaac Budmen
Stephanie Rose Budmen

03/03/2026

Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t just change architecture.

He changed its direction.

At a time when houses climbed upward with towers and ornament, Wright began designing homes that stretched across the landscape, echoing the horizon of the American Midwest.

One of the tools behind that shift was surprisingly simple: a brick.

That small shift changed how buildings connect to the land and how we experience space.

Sometimes innovation begins with something ordinary. Read the full story here:

A Think Variant Human Innovation Story exploring how Frank Lloyd Wright transformed American architecture by rethinking something ordinary: the brick. Discover how his designs reshaped how we experience space, landscape, and home.

02/08/2026

Our latest Human Innovation story: how looked at nail clippers and said “why are we still doing this?” So they rebuilt the system. Quiet. Clean. Thoughtful. Built to last.

No more harsh noise. No more ricocheting clippings. Read the full story - link in profile.

This story reflects our mission at Think Variant: to accelerate the rate of human innovation.
variant

02/08/2026

How do you revolutionize something that’s been around since the late 1800s?

You stop assuming the problem is solved.

Our latest Human Innovation story: how EDJY looked at nail clippers and said: “Why are we still doing it like this?”
So they rebuilt the system. Quiet. Clean. Thoughtful. Built to Last.

No more noise. No more ricocheting clippings. Just a clean cut.

Read the full story here: https://thinkvariant.com/human-innovation-stories/rethinking-the-cut

Visit Detroit Think Variant

How do you revolutionize something that’s been around since the late 1800s? You start by refusing to assume the problem is solved. EDJY studied nail clippers and rebuilt the experience from first principles. This story is a case study in human innovation: noticing everyday friction, questioning de...