If you understand the medium, you understand the people. Because the medium isn’t Facebook, Youtube, tv, radio etc, it’s people.

For example, a Children’s Hospital created a pirate themed CT-scanner to make medical tests a little less scary.

The medium is scared children. And the problem was solved by making the medium less scared.

Same applies to the dutch bicycle company that used a delivering company that damaged their bicycles on delivery. The parcel had a picture of a bike on the box so the delivery company wasn’t handling the parcel that delicately.

The company then put pictures of TVs on their bike boxes to prevent damages while being delivered. Doing so they saw an 80% decrease in damages. 

The medium is the delivery drivers not being delicate with the parcel. And the problem was solved by making the medium more delicate with the parcel.

Here are a few more example of understanding the medium (people) to solve the problem:

Some roads in Australia are so long they have trivia signs to keep drivers alert.

When FC Midtjylland played Rangers, the staff who worked in the away section wore ranger shirts. The travelling support felt welcome in Denmark.

These problems were solved by understanding the people. Once they were identified and understood, the problem could be solved.