I’m sat here at a kids party as I write this. It’s noisy and chaotic. Every child demanding attention shouting “look at me, look at me”. By the end of the party, there will be some smiles and some tears.
It reminds me a bit of the web community. We’re not sliding down slides or kicking footballs at window sills scattered with drinks but we’re all trying to outdo the next person, trying to be heard amongst a sea of voices. We want to be the one left holding the present when the music stops.
This week, airbnb launched a new logo. What followed was pretty standard for the web. Some liked, some didn’t. Everyone made sure we knew what they thought, it’s probably still happening. Infact it is as of Sunday morning.
So what the fuck am I wittering on about?
Well we all like having an opinion and saying what we think. I guess the more people that listen, the more important we feel.
I’m not scared to have a say but last year I found myself being nasty about a new website for no valid reason. I just felt I could say what I felt and not worry about it.
Little did I know, someone I knew had been instrumental in it’s design and build and they read what I said. I was horrified. I maintain I didn’t like some of the stuff on the site but I could have gone about sharing my opinion another way or just shut up. Fact is, I just let rip. Luckily it was sorted pretty easily but it made me realise that we have a responsibility to be careful what we say and share. 140 characters can have such a huge impact on our own situations and so many others. It’s very easy to forget that real people are involved with so much we interact with even if it’s zeros and ones we deal with upfront.
Behind the airbnb logo, there sits designers who came up with it. We don’t know the reason for it and why it was chosen. It may be there were many options on the table and someone made a call.
We may not like things but we should accept that not everything it’s obvious upfront. I have worked on many projects where decisions where made that I didn’t agree with but they happened. Yet from the outside, people could question why I used a certain colour or some functionality when actually I had no part in it’s choosing.
There is a break at the party now so it’s a good time to close this off. Take responsibility on what you say but think about the bigger picture once in a while.
Enjoy the day.