APEX in Profile: Devin Liddell
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Devin Liddell
Principal Brand Strategist
Teague
Devin Liddell leads the brand strategy for design consultancy Teague, working collaboratively with clients such as Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, The Boeing Company, Intel, JW Marriott, Microsoft and SC Johnson to create research-driven brand strategies and consumer experiences.
Something that never ceases to amaze you in your industry:
Any design challenge worth tackling has some gnarly, amazing tension that needs to be reconciled. In aviation, the key tension is between operator profitability and passenger comfort. Big breakthroughs happen when a tension like that is reconciled, rather than one winning out over another. What always amazes me is design’s boundless ability to reconcile these tensions in the only ways that matter. That’s why designers are the greatest sources of optimism we have. There isn’t a challenge we can’t take on through great design. I fervently believe that.
First travel memory?
Growing up in Denver, my younger brother and I would sit in the backyard and call out the liveries of airplanes flying overhead from the now decommissioned Stapleton International Airport. To me, that’s a standard airlines should aspire to – that kids thousands of feet below can recognize an airline’s unique external markings.
As for travel itself, my family took a vacation to the Bahamas when I was seven years old. I remember marveling at the otherness of it all: The different way English was spoken, the warm and winterless climate, even the way we walked from the airplane right onto the tarmac. And that was just the first of many international trips I took thereafter.
Now, I want that experience for my young children. To get out into the great wide open. A full third of Americans do not even own a passport. That’s sad, really, and the travel industries should seize the opportunity to get more people beyond their borders and beyond their comfort zones. Hey, the Bahamas was a very comfortable place to visit.
One thing you’ve taste-tested and will never eat/drink again?
I consider myself a very adventurous eater. Great eating requires risk and leaps of faith. That said, I simply don’t like sea urchin sushi. I love, love sushi, and there was a part of me that really wanted to like uni, but then I tried it. And the rest of me said, “Never put that in your mouth again.” I have complied.
Favorite airport or airline lounge?
I personally love Charles de Gaulle Airport. First, it had a prominent role – along with London Heathrow – in my first forays into Europe while a student. So there’s a personal, emotional bond there. Its dramatic architecture, and use of light and white space, helps it feel retro and futuristic all at once. Plus, it gave us the Frutiger typeface. To me, it’s what international travel – and the sense of wonder and optimism that traveling to faraway places evokes looks like on its best days. When I die, I wouldn’t mind an hour or so with a coffee and a newspaper in Charles de Gaulle before connecting onward.