Battleship Innovation lends the “Razzle Dazzle”

During WWI, the German U-Boat revolutionized sea warfare. For the first time, battleships had a hidden enemy beneath the surface of the water. And these battleships were being sunk at an alarming rate. In open water, traditional wartime camouflage was ineffective. The sea and sky were constantly changing a ship’s “natural” environment as weather fluctuated.

So what was to be done? Rethink camouflage, obviously. British naval officer and artist Norman Wilkinson pioneered a new camouflaging technique based not on blending in, but on standing out. Blending in was impossible. Standing out was possible, but why was it useful?

Torpedoes were slower back then, and radar and sonar weren’t as advanced. U-Boats had to fire torpedoes based on where they thought a ship was headed. This involved determining a ship’s bearing and speed. Anything that disrupted these two metrics was also effective at camouflaging a battleship in the open sea. Thus was born a form of camouflage termed “Razzle Dazzle.”

Norman Wilkinson used bright, loud colors and contrasting diagonal patterns painted on boats to confuse U-Boat captains and make their bearing and speed less apparent. Examples of this Razzle Dazzle are below, but try imagining them in bright colors like purple, orange, and yellow.

Camouflage is often thought of as a way to conceal an object. However, if the object cannot be hidden, as in the case with a WWI ship on the open sea, the purpose of camouflage then becomes to disrupt those trying to find the object. Case in point: zebras. Alternating black and white stripes doesn’t seem like an ideal camouflage, but when a bunch of zebras are hanging out, the stripes all blend together in a predator’s vision. This makes it difficult for the zebra’s primary predator, the lion, to hone in on one particular zebra, increasing safety for all.

Razzle Dazzle camouflage is a prime example of innovation through design research. Design research is an investigation into the process of product design. In the case of Razzle Dazzle, coming up with an effective means of camouflage meant revisiting the goals of camouflage and the constraints on an enemy’s weapons. In commercial examples of new product innovation, many times this means revisiting how consumers are actually using your products.

Consider the Whirlpool Duet front-loading washers and dryers. Whirlpool observed one woman who had placed her front-loading dryer on cinderblocks to make loading and unloading easier. This kind of design research led to the pedestal and storage unit, which is now prevalent with front-loading washers and dryers. New innovation opportunities can often be uncovered by going back to the basics:

•   What problem are we trying to solve?
•   What are the parameters?
•   How are products currently being used to solve this problem?

As Microsoft Ethnographer Tracey Lovejoy said, “In today’s competitive and global market, companies are finding it necessary to deeply understand their customer and build their product accordingly.” Though in the case of Razzle Dazzle, one could easily substitute “customer” for “enemy” and “product” for “battleship.”