By Susan Mcfadzean

Always interrogate your product

Standing on the clammy platform at Bank waiting for my even clammier tube ride down to Stockwell I find myself gazing at Chevelle. S. Her face three times bigger than real size advertises the iPhone X. She’s pretty, I think. But that’s subjective right? Either way she definitely has her ‘selfie’ face on. And it looks to be well practiced. Her arm is stretched out long and far so she can the get the ultimate angle of the camera. Her lips are only slightly pouting and poised, only fractionally open. Chin forward and tilted upwards. Make up, including fake eyelashes all applied to perfection. And the longer I stare at her, the more I start to judge her appearance. To compare myself to her. And it struck me that how ridiculous these ads promoting the iPhone X are. Do Apple really want to capitalise on tweens and teens self-consciousness? Cause Chevelle. S can’t be older than 18. Do they really want to say that you need an iPhone X to look fucking great in a selfie? Does anyone really need to worry about looking fucking great in a selfie?

Recently we’ve been told to take a product and scrutinize it. Interrogate it. Tear it apart and then build it back up. Then reposition it.

And jumping on my clammy carriage and opening my iPhone with my thumbprint I started to think about this ‘mobile’ and how massively it’s changed since my first flip Samsung back in school. Living in London without my iPhone would have been a much greater struggle. I’ve relied on it for Spare Rooms to find my first flat, City Mapper to get around and Uber, much more than I care to admit. Digital banking allows me to transfer money and pay all my bills from wherever I am. I also still use it to actually call my friends and family too. I’ve booked flights with a thumbprint. I used it for the underground before getting my first Oyster card. Then of course, yes, there is the social media apps. Even if Snapchat lost out to Insta stories, I still went through the phase. I know we live in a selfie culture, my classmate wrote his thesis on it for goodness sake.

So yes, maybe I can see where Apple where coming from. But you can do better than that Apple. Even if you don’t have too.

Always interrogate your product.