Another example of Microsoft’s horrendously awful marketing lately. Apple uses Justin Long and John Hodgman. Fun and clever. Microsoft uses bullshit laptop buyers in a Best Buy going for cheap instead of quality, and now, projectile vomiting.

Ironically, it’s how I feel when writing CSS bug fixes for IE6.

What will we see from them to market Windows 7? Someone with a stomach virus and diarrhea thanks to a lesser operating system? I can’t wait.

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It’s interesting that we have to struggle to justify our existence to many business people who don’t value what we offer, or refute all attempts at the return on investment good designers can deliver. We also justify our existence by insisting that design could and should lead development, or that we’re not simply a brand police that slows down product development.

We need to articulate our value beyond the impression that design is just a new coat of paint on a perfectly fine working car. Our work should help prevent users from closing the browser in frustration, from closing the tab before clicking “Checkout”, or the potential demo not leading to a buy in. If comparison is done on a nicely designed interface to one that “technically works” but lacks desinger input, the designed one will sell more. Isn’t that worth the cost of design? You’ve wasted hours making a functional application or product that few people want to use, or worse, don’t want to buy. Congratulations, you’re limiting sales potential.

Realtors call it curb appeal and in the newly competitive real estate market with more buyers than sellers, you better make an effort on the quality of your home interior and exterior if you expect to get the price you’re asking for.

It’s why iPod and iPhone users generally have such a good impression of Apple as a brand. The device design invites people to pick it up and use it, with a minimal interface that has less buttons exterior buttons. It’s seemingly simple, but incredibly versatile. I can get more done faster with my iPhone than my old Blackberry, and the experience of buying new content, watching a show or listening to music on my phone is far better for a $200 device, and it’s the design that impresses as much as anything. Now, AT&T just needs to do a better job of getting their system to match Apple’s quality.

It’s time we realized that we don’t simply make things pretty, we add quality.