I'm 37,000 feet up in the air and I was having a digital conversation with a Linked In acquaintance who became a Facebook friend and who now seems on the verge of becoming a real friend.
What we were talking about was the failure of the Web as an advertising medium. The "10 Best" online campaigns recently selected by The One Club didn't have one piece of work that actually built a brand. Not one.
The brands in question were built on print and TV. Period.
What occurred to me while my new-found friend and I were chatting was this: the web has been called a designer's media. Design and interaction design drives it. Writers for the web often seem as important as tailors in a nudist colony.
What if we've been doing it all wrong?
What if we tried doing work that understands that words can have impact? Meaning. Power. Importance.
Statements can make a statement.
Messages can be the message.
Substance can be substantial.
Function can follow function.
Many of us are complicit in propagating well-designed sameness (if it looks like everything else, is it well-designed?) and that, simply and plainly, hasn't worked.
Maybe it's time to try something different.
