We carry them everyday, touch them constantly (sometimes too much), think about them in abstract terms (e.g. “share of wallet”, spending behaviours, consumer spending), but rarely consider in purely personal, physical terms.

Note: Jan Chipchase of Nokia does research on cultural norms an impact on technology and functional design, he has touched on the nature of ways to carry important things and difference across cultures. I’ve been thinking about wallets lately, but without the inquisitiveness, cross-cultural exploration and insight that he brings to his research.

I tried going without a wallet for a couple weeks. Back in the days when I lived in Raleigh, my friend Alan used to abstain from using a wallet, living with an unruly mess of plastic and paper stuffed in and out of his pants pockets, which invariably failed to contain the exact piece of plastic or paper that was needed at the moment (he has since switched to nice silver business card case, an unconventional but very efficient and attractive solution).

I’ve never been able to give up the wallet, although I constantly strive to make it thinner, less of a nuisance.

I switched to front-pocket only years ago when I returned to live in London (hated sitting on them, worried about pickpockets in cities), and since then keeping a thin wallet has always been a prime concern. Tri-folds are out of the question. I used a bi-fold wallet with a compartment for change for years, but switched to a thin bi-fold about the same time I returned to live in London, and have used it ever since. I have never seriously considered a money clip, although after using a binder clip for the past couple of weeks I can appreciate the approach. Perhaps my bias against money clips comes because I only see money clips in the SkyMall magazine, perhaps the worst shopping outlet in the world.

Lately I have looked at alternative thin wallets like the Alt-ett and Slimmy. Researching and browsing online has revealed a lot of different but similar approaches, made me focus on my own use-cases and really made me think about how we use wallets, what we need to carry everyday and how it reflects our individual selves and our culture. The wealth of user testimonials and comments on Amazon on wallets is truly amazing – some people really, really care about the topic.

So… right now I’m testing a variation of the aforementioned Slimmy. It works well as a way to forcibly constrain what you carry. The design makes it pretty easy to use cards but a little less easy to use cash compared to tri- and bi-fold wallets, but similar to money clips. From the perspective of functional form and user design, it makes sense for now, but we’ll see.

But really, this is not about wallets but about taking a new look at daily routines and being open to innovation. Innovation is not restrained to companies and commericial activities – it starts with individuals striving to make their lives better, easier, quicker, cheaper. And if it solves a problem for one person, chances are it can solve problems for others. Innovation on an individual, personal scale is the basis for innovation for the masses.