Tanja – Alien 161

Meet Tanja. She is an interior designer for technical devices and the world wide virtual world. Today is her first day of self-employment; her first client already waits in the virtual waiting room. She is the first interior designer who does not only focus on the world wide virtual web but also on all technical devices. She is the one who creates excellent homes for bits and bytes. Until now, the interior design of such devices strictly followed the rule of form follows function. So bits and bites are forced to live in this blackish world where colour is a rare good. This should change now -Tanja wants to bring colour to the world of bits and bites. 

At the moment, she sits at her desk, excited to meet her first client but also a little anxious because she is not sure what kind of client will soon enter her office. At precisely this moment, she receives a text message from an unknown number: “I am sure you will do a great job with your first client. They can be happy to have you as their interior designer, and I know you will create something spectacular. – Max”. “Oh, how nice this is, but how does he know? “Tanja thinks. 

Tanja greets the client in the virtual meeting room with a warm welcome. After discussing the standard legal jibber jabber, she asks him about his wishes. The client starts talking: “Well, a huge problem for us is that many of our friends go missing every day. You might have heard of it. You often get notified about missing data packages via an error message. So for you, this is frustrating because your action was not completed, but for us, this means a missing friend who we most often never see again. The ones who found their way back reported that all the different grey colours are sometimes so confusing that they miss their exit. I need your help, Tanja. Do you have an idea how we can fix this problem?” “Yes, of course. Maybe we could use different colours and wallpaper to lead the way”, Tanja proposes. “I love that idea”, the client answers. “This way, our routes will also get so much more interesting. Because right now, all we see is different shades of grey”, the client continues. “This should be no problem. Maybe we will enhance your walls even a little more. We could hang different pictures in frames. The pictures in the frames change every day. This way, you can experience something new each day. What do you think?” Tanja asks. “That would be just wonderful”, the client answers. “Then let’s go to work”.