"TRMNL Disappears and the Information Remains": A Professor Replaces Sticky Notes with Smart Signage

Company Overview

Martin Seehuus teaches psychology at Middlebury College and does clinical work through the University of Vermont. Before becoming a psychologist, he worked as an IT infrastructure director at Bristol Myers Squibb, so he feels comfortable experimenting with technology.

The Challenge

Martin's old system for communicating availability was low-tech: sticky notes.

The two sticky notes were either BRB or knock. Those were the two sticky notes that kind of alternated.

The problem? A professor's schedule isn't predictable. Crises happen. Office hours get canceled.

If I'm up doing clinical work and there's a crisis, I need to cancel office hours. I could send an email to everybody, or I can update the sign on the door. I can't do that with a sticky note remotely.

He'd considered other digital options, but they were all expensive commercial solutions (easily 10x the cost) or required mounting a screen, which felt like overkill.

The Solution

Martin backed TRMNL on Kickstarter without a specific plan:

When I bought it, it was very much like I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this, but it seems cool. And it's not so expensive that I will regret getting a cool thing if I can't figure out what to do with it.

The moment it arrived, the use case was obvious: digital door signage.

From the moment it actually showed up, it was immediately digital signage. The one I have lives on my office door. It's got a running list of where I am at the moment.

His setup: a TRMNL velcroed to the door, battery charged once every nine months, displaying his current status.

There's lots of students who just come by. Being able to have a sign that says 'off campus' that I updated that day or the day before is a tremendous time saver and email saver.

Results

Martin made an observation that captures TRMNL's design philosophy perfectly:

TRMNL disappears and the information remains.

From the students' perspective, it's unremarkable—and that's the point:

From the student's point of view, it is entirely unremarkable. And I think that's a really good sign. It's not flashy. It doesn't draw attention. It's just functional.

A flashier solution would have been counterproductive:

Putting a monitor on the door is not necessarily wildly more complicated. But they're so much flashier that they're actually less desirable. They would draw attention to the tool and not to the information.

His entire department has asked about it:

My entire department has at some point or another asked what it is and where I got it.

Recommendation

For Martin, TRMNL serves as a remote-updatable sticky note. And that's exactly enough:

It kind of is a virtual sticky note, to be honest. From my point of view, I know it can do much more, but that's the value I'm getting from it, and I think it's pretty significant value.

What's Next

Martin plans to expand TRMNL use for research. In the fall, he'll run a study requiring participants to navigate to his lab:

I want to have signage that can direct people to my lab and tell them whether they should go to the lab or hang out in the waiting room.

Instead of posting a research assistant outside to direct people:

I want to have a sign that can say, 'Brian S., go up these stairs and turn left.' And to be able to update that without having to reprint another sign or make an undergraduate stand out in the cold directing people.

Martin Seehuus is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Middlebury College.