Choice ≠ Care
The paradox of choice & OEM's vision for the year 2040.
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I. The Paradox of Choice
As we dove into the research for this particular subject matter, I was blown away by a data point that suggested we make nearly 35,000 decisions per day. Cornell University says that number is up by 20,000 decisions or more compared to 50 years ago, due to a life that is vastly interconnected.
Should I pick up this phone call? Should I respond to this email now or later? What should we watch on Netflix? What do you want to order on Doordash? What should I wear today? Which suggested playlist on Spotify should I listen to? Should I go to the gym or take a rest day?
You get the point. Suddenly, 35,000 seems like an underestimation.
Western societies equate individual freedom with well-being and assume that more choices lead to greater freedom. Freedom, of course, is good, valuable, worthwhile, and essential to being human. And if people have freedom, then each of us can act on our own to do the thing that will maximize our welfare without needing anyone to decide on our behalf. Under these conditions, we’ve been trained to believe that we can maximize freedom by maximizing choice.
The more choice people have, the more freedom they have. The more freedom they have, the more welfare they have.
Psychologist Barry Schwartz took aim at this belief in his work titled The Paradox of Choice. In his estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier, but more dissatisfied. He says that the result of having unlimited choices is a recipe for regret, anxiety, and emotional drainage.
Columbia Psychologists Iyengar & Lepper also investigated the downfall of choice with their Jam Study conducted in 2000. They found that large displays of up to 24 jam options in grocery stores attracted more attention while smaller displays with only 6 options converted 10x the amount of purchase rates. Tversky and Shafir (1992) also found that 80% of consumers choose not to buy a product when given too many options but readily make decisions when the choices are limited.
We don’t need a great deal of convincing that choice serves as both a privilege and burden. I find most days to be exhausting. My wife and I joke that we should decide what we want to eat for dinner and what we want to watch now, otherwise it will be too late soon. “Now” being 10am on a Wednesday.
There are even people on Fiverr who offer products titled “I will guide you to make the right decision in any situation.” This particular person says they have serviced over 2,100 people. I sent him a message to see what kind of decisions he’s helped people make out of curiosity, but didn’t hear back.
For many years prior, the world scratched their head in confusion at figures like Dieter Rams, Donald Judd, and Mies van der Rohe who were adamant about creation philosophies that embraced the paradoxical idea that less is of greater value than more. The works of these artists and designers resonate deeply today, but we can only imagine how easily they were swept under the rug at a time where abundance was a universal sign of wealth and prosperity.
Companies like Apple have made it clear that the discipline of ‘less, but better’ has proven to be a magnificent strategy for communicating with impact. Jobs was known for his intense focus on a small number of high-impact products, believing that he could conserve mental energy to make clearer decisions on fewer, well-designed products.
He took this belief beyond the walls of Apple when he hired Issey Miyake to make 100 identical black turtleneck sweaters for him, stating that he could free up his mental energy for more important decisions by eliminating the trivial ones, like what to wear each day.
It’s said that Miyake retired this piece following Jobs’ death in 2011.
II. On Earth Momentarily
We’re attracted to figures and companies that have the courage to defy human instinct while staying disciplined enough to find success in counter cultural ideas.
Our friends at OEM are taking the same idea to health by building ‘a new drugstore’ and tools for care—between loved ones, friends, strangers, and all those in between. Their products cover a wide range of care like hydration drinks, lip balm, and exfoliating hand wash. Across all their offerings, a consistent theme is clear: well designed, effective, and a sensation of ‘calm’ from introduction through use.
We were lucky enough to design and develop the OEM website last year. During one of our early intake calls, founders Shun Kinoshita and Ceilidh MacLeod explained why ‘choice’ might actually be the antithesis of care,
“Think about it this way: when you’re not feeling well and need an over-the-counter solution, many people go to their local drugstore. There, you’re faced with dozens of formulas, brands, price points, and ugly designs, asking yourself things like ‘Should I buy the less expensive one even if it’s less effective? Will the generic brand be just as effective as the name brand? Will this actually work or does the box just say it will?’
Those are not fun questions to think through when you already aren’t feeling your best. Think about those times your mom pulled out an ointment from the cabinet, when your gran cooked up some soup, or when a loved one made you a hot drink—they didn’t present you with options, they presented you with the best option, and you trusted it because it came from a place of care. We believe care is the foundation to improve health for all.”
This perspective resonated with us, and forced us to think about what was absolutely necessary during our time working together. As a result, we created a digital home that shifts the way users think about care. While the primary function of the site was geared towards commerce, we entered the partnership with a shared understanding that care transcends simply buying a product. It’s community, it’s vulnerability, it’s layered and textured, and can come in many shapes or sounds.
We designed the site to be able to house those various verticals of care, setting space aside for random journal entries from the OEM team, updates on community events like dinners or sound baths, or the occasional playlist curated for specific moments in time. These elements come together to inform the personality behind the brand, which can only be summed up as intentional.
At the top of the OEM’s about page is a simple question: “What does a new drugstore mean?”
They’re building it as we speak, sure. But we called Shun and Ceilidh to see what it would look like for us to take it even further. We tapped Joshua Abejo, a designer and artist experimenting with AI to help us explore some of our more granular questions: What could the new drugstore look like in the year 2040? What does it feel like? What does it smell like? What’s inside of it? What is the experience of walking through it?
III. Welcome to the New Drugstore
Before you even reach the building, you smell something—Hinoki trees—though that doesn’t make sense here, in the middle of the city. You keep expecting to find a hidden park, a quiet break in the cement, but there is only light, soft and glowing, slipping over the sidewalk. You step inside.
At the front desk, a woman sits in a halo of blue light. She looks at you and asks, “How are you feeling?”
You almost say fine, because you are—no aches, no fever—but then you notice it, the quiet thread of anxiety that has been following you, something so constant you almost forgot it was there. She nods, as if she understands, and gestures toward a wall of wooden cabinets. You slip off your shoes, and that's when you hear it—a low hum. You feel it. The vibration in your chest seems to release something.
You step onto the tatami floor and follow her down the hallway. Inside the room, you stand on a small platform and close your eyes. The warmth of the light moves over you, and for a moment, you are still. The scan is complete. You settle into a chair.
A doctor enters. She walks you through your scan, a map of your body, the markers to indicate your health — both physical and mental. Opportunities to improve longevity, cognitive function, energy, emotional well-being, and sleep quality. Leaving you with a personalized protocol to guide your health forward.
Beyond the scan, the rest of the center waits. The health store — offering hydration, recovery, performance, and essential care, including remedies and treatment — one option (the best option) for every health and wellness objective. Each item sits upon floating glass boxes, lit from within. The nutrients bar, where a personalized smoothie is already being blended for you.
The immersive gym, where the running track curves through trees, past a stream. The studio, where meditation, dance, and yoga unfold. The arts room, where creativity shifts neural pathways from anxiety to focus, imagination, and calm.
The onsen, with Hinoki-wood baths, warm stone beds, and steaming hot springs set into the ground of a Japanese garden, where the cool air contrasts with the warmth throughout your body.
And every month you return to reset and listen. To remember what your body is capable of. To cherish this fleeting, extraordinary moment of being alive.
IV. The Broader Perspective
While it's easy to get swept away in the vision promised by future states, OEM clearly prioritizes showing up in real life more than anywhere else. Whether it’s hosting public sound baths, curating art exhibitions, or sponsoring communities centered around sport in Los Angeles, the brand shows up today in ways that give us confidence in where they’re going.
We often see the word “intentional” tossed around in our line of work, as if you magically become it by labeling yourself as such. But what we need, what we all need, is a future with less choices, and better options.
The brands that are able to figure out how they can allow their users to experience more life are the ones perceived as most intentional.
Thanks for reading
Findings is a project by Mouthwash Studio, a design studio centered on new ideas and defining experiences. Learn more about what we’re doing with Findings here. In the archive, you’ll find all our work to date surrounding this project.
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