Web Design and Country Music

I recently completed a fresh website design for country music star Jason Aldean. Somewhere during the process I realized that I’m much more in tune with the country music scene. More so than I ever guessed I would be. I’ve always been a fan of older country music like Johnny Cash, Willie, Waylon, Hank (Sr) and Patsy Cline. You know, the classics. But now I can actually name that tune when it comes to mainstream radio.

All of this caused a bit of introspection as to what I’ve learned (or become more aware of) from other jobs I’ve worked. For a while, Point of Sale was my thing. I could tell you who the big players were and exactly what their visual identity looked like. I critiqued self checkout systems much to the annoyance of my girlfriend and the lady working the system. When I was working in advertising, I was made (sometimes painfully) aware of the outboard engine market and lawnmowers and generators from my dealings with Honda.

So… what has all this introspection resulted in? The realization that self-checkout still has a lot of room for improvement, outboard motors have twice the power of my car but a fraction of the weight and new country isn’t all that bad.