I’m fascinated by the Thomas Heatherwick London buses. As a child I caught the Number 8 route master from Bow to Bethnal Green every day and it’s great to see a version of them back.

Thomas Heatherwick opened the WIRED conference a few years ago and explained his overall goal; to make the experience of riding a bus dignified again. He wanted to soften the unforgiving fluorescent lighting, banish the nuclear yellow poles, rip out the harsh plastic bucket seats and replace them with comfortable ones similar to those of yesteryear. The bus still gets you from A to B but the experience is more pleasurable; more dignified.

I’m sure the buses were put together by machines in factories in an automated way but they were designed with total care; mindfulness and with a clear goal in mind.

We could all learn from that approach. Too often people aim to get from A to B and lose site of the real goals. The real purpose disappears and box ticking exercises take precedence. Who cares how viewable your ad was if all it did was annoy?