Air China's Small Design Decisions 国航小小的设计决定

After disembarking from a recent Air China flight between Shanghai and Beijing, I looked up to have the following visual assault on my eyes:
当我从最近一次上海至北京的中国国际航空航班下机后，映入眼帘的是以下的场景：

Now, someone or some team at Air China has the beginning of a good idea here (although not new). They believe they should be using built-in displays as a unique opportunity for branding and sending a friendly message to their customers.
现在，中国国际航空的某个人或某个团队开始有了这样一个好主意（虽然不新）。他们相信他们应该利用这些内置的显示器作为建立品牌以及向顾客传达友好信息的一个独特契机。

Where they've clearly gone wrong in this case, though, is the combination of cheap LCD technology with a fundamentally poor choice of color combination. Of the commonly known color combinations that affect legibility,  blue on red is one of the poorer performers. This typographic phenomena is even more true for display graphics than for print or other mediums. Branding can easily juxtapose these two colors, and does so successfully all the time, as seen in this classic design by Saul Bass:
然而，他们在这里明显误入歧途的地方在于廉价的液晶显示技术与颜色选择明显不当这两者的结合。在所有广为人知的影响易读性的颜色组合中，蓝底红字是最差的组合之一。相比印刷或其他媒介，这一排版不佳的现象对于图形显示媒介而言更甚。将这两个颜色放在一起用在品牌标识上是很容易的，而且一直以来这样也很成功，就像Saul Bass在这个经典设计中所展示的那样：

But taken too far, particularly with typography, the designer creates a confusing visual, which is barely legible and strains the eye.
但如果做得太过火，尤其是对于排版而言，设计师就会创造出一个令人困惑的视觉效果。这样的设计不但难以辨认，而且看起来也很累：

Something as small as this individual event almost certainly cannot easily be tied into measurable figures, but that's not the point. This, among so many other touch points, has an impact on brand perception and value, which in turn affects Air China's reputation and sales (we shouldn't measure experiences only quantitative terms).
如此这般的事件小到几乎无法与重要的大事件相联系，但这并不是我想表达的意思。这，与其他许多重要的触点一起，对于品牌认知和品牌价值有影响，而这会进而影响中国国际航空的名声和业绩（我们不应该仅仅用量化的标准来衡量经历）。

This is a great example of the outcome of what happens in China when poor design decisions are made or when design is not valued. Ultimately, the effect you have on your customers becomes the opposite of your intent. Instead of leaving the plane with a smile and a thank you, Air China's customers look away wondering "What were they thinking?"
在中国，当人们作出不好的设计决定或者设计不被重视时会发生什么？这就是一个很好的例子。最终，你在你的顾客身上所产生的效果变成了你所期待的相反面。与面带微笑和一句谢谢下飞机相反，国航的顾客们下飞机时四处张望，心想：“他们在想什么？”

Of note: Air China is one of the better Chinese airlines overall, and I have great respect for them when compared to some others. But looking at the entire customer experience of Chinese airlines in general is a much larger topic with many potential areas for improvement — perhaps a topic for a future post.
值得注意的是，总体而言，中国国际航空是中国较好的航空公司之一，并且在与其他航空公司相比较时，我对国航一直很尊重。但关注中国航空公司的整体旅客体验是一个有许多地方值得改进的更大的话题——或许会是今后的博客的主题。

- Brandon Edwards, Associate Creative Director, Shanghai office

- Brandon Edwards, 上海工作室创意副总监