“The car shaped our environment in the 20th century in this huge, tectonic way. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the screen will be as important to shaping our environment in the 21st century. What goes on those screens is pretty important, because the things that we choose to surround ourself with will shape what we become. We’re not just making pretty interfaces, we’re actually in the process of building an environment where we’ll spend the most of our time for the rest of our lives. We’re the designers. We’re the builders. What do we want that enviornment to feel like? What do we want to feel like?”
Wilson Miner said this in this presentation called “When We Build” at a 2011 web conference. I didn’t know who Miner was before the video, but he had a lot to do with Apple’s first major redesign, and is also one of the original developers of the Django framework.
Not much of the presentation is about the web specifically, but it’s really a great talk about how our industry and work fits in with our world experience. He also discusses the relationship between users and the things they interact with, whether a magazine, a car, or a screen. There are too many good quotes in the video to put here, so I included the one that hit me first and hardest. It’s definitely worth the watch, and does a really great job expressing why I get excited about building things on the web.
(hat tip to my coworker, and Infomedia Creative Director, David)
Wow, neat presentation. Thanks for sharing. Sometimes as web developers it feels like we’re never really “creating” anything – just moving bits and bytes around. But I think it is true that we’re creating the interfaces that shape how our customers / audiences interact and interpret the world. And, though stuck in the confines of a digital screen – it still counts for something significant.