Did you know??! Did you know that I spend most a lot of time not as a dj and bmx/snowboard gadabout, but as a *gasp* designer/art director? I spend a lot of time thinking about not only *groan* storytelling and branding and communication but also usability and human factors and whatnot.
I saw Objectified this weekend, Gary Hustwit’s paean to the heroes of industrial design, and one of the bits that I found interesting was Jonathan Ive, SVP of Industrial Design at Apple talking about how as a designer, you spend a lot of time obsessing about why things are the way they are, sort of looking at objects (or anything) and thinking about all the decisions that had to be made to make that object the way it is–this automagically explained all the chatter in my head when I look at or experience something that is good, bad, or mediocre. How the hell did ths come to be like this? If it’s good, how did the stars align so that something so perfect came to being? If it’s bad, what kind of fucking band of moronic syphylitic monkeys came together and thought it would be a good idea to bring this to market/existence/my doorstep? Hearing ol’ Jonny talk about design and the nature of designers in that way made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Anyway, go see the movie, it’s good.
Anyway… plucky designer Dustin Curtis appreantly is affected in the same way by things things and had such a terrible experience with American Airlines and aa.com that he came up with a diatribe in the form of an open letter to the airline, along with a suggestion or three on how to fix things.
Dear American Airlines | Dustin Curtis.
via @seth_weisfeld
