The key layout on a standard QWERTY keyboard is built on a design brief that has long since become irrelevant: What seems as an irrational and random orientation of letters for everyone familiar with the sequence of the roman alphabet, is actually set up to prevent mechanical typewriter jams by slowing typists down. The position of the letters in relation to one another is purposefully a pain, and not of derivative logic to someone taught the ABC’s and cursive handwriting. engineered inefficiency in the user, in order to bolster a product’s technical reliability. The design of the QWERTY keyboard layout persists a century after the problem it solved has ceased to exist. (the last typewriter I remember using was a historical novelty in my Primary school classroom) but its inefficiency is now embedded in billions of devices and muscle memories worldwide. This is the danger of optimization without examination. We refine answers to questions we've forgotten to ask and polish solutions to problems that may no longer be relevant… ...or worse, were perhaps misdiagnosed from the start. First Principles Thinking offers an exit ramp to similar design feedback loops. Rather than accepting existing frameworks as immutable, it ensures that we dismantle complex problems into their fundamental truths, and rebuild understanding from the ground up. Before you dive head-first into your design work, challenge the assumptions of the brief... ...aggressively.