Newsstand in Munich demonstrates the cultural assumption that everybody is fundamentally honest and obedient to the social system. The newsstand design is very simple: a freely openable transparent lid, a tray to put the stack of newspaper, and a simple coin slot on the side. The lid is simply to prevent rain from getting into the tray. There is no lock or any monitoring mechanism in the body.

If you so wanted to cheat, you can just effortlessly open the lid and take as many newspaper as you please. But my German friend describes to me that, “why do you need more than one newspaper? Since it doesn’t make any sense, nobody would do it.” and hence no need to add any anti-theft design to it.

During my week-long stay in Munich, Germany, I also found that the locals are very discipline in obeying the traffic signal. Even when it’s late night with heavy rain and no oncoming vehicle visible at sight, the locals would just stand patiently on the curb and wait until the green walking man signal is on.

In a society that is based on trust and discipline, artifact design would be very different from those that are based on skepticism, cynicism, and the trust-no-one mentality.