I swear. There are some days that I really wonder if the job of designer is worth the frustration. It isn’t a difficult job, in fact I’ve often said a trained monkey could probably pull much of this off. It’s just the stupid things that give me pause. Or maybe it’s the number of stupid things that give me pause.

Today’s case in point:
The icon at the above, in full-size glory, is the result of a request from an internal development group. What they asked for was, and I quote, a “small, simple trash can icon.” We went back and forth all morning about the dimensions, then colors, and followed that up with a rousing conversation about the pros and cons of corrugated metal versus metal wire basket styles. That little thing above is the final artwork that got approved.

Long story short, I just spent my day creating a low bandwidth, high-contrast, empty version of the the default trash icon from Apple’s OSX dock.

I just wish they’d requested that from the beginning.

I think I’m losing my hearing.

Earlier this week when I stopped for lunch, at the counter I ordered some chicken meal, and when the young woman behind the counter asked me something, I just stared at her blankly. I knew she had said something, as her mouth was moving, and I had heard something, but I didn’t know what. I took a stab at what I hoped she was asking:

“Breast, please.”

Staring back at me for a minute like I was some sort of idiot, she very slowly, and a little louder than I thought was necessary, repeated her request:

“DO YOU WANT A DRINK?”

I decided against trying to explain to her what I thought she said, and took the walk of shame to the soda fountain. It could have been worse. I mean, at least at a chicken place you can actually make that breast request and it won’t get you a face full of pepper spray or a ride in a squad car. When my order came up, the number was announced through the loudspeaker. It was the only time it was used while I was there, and the place was full of senior citizens.
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