My first day working for Charles Cooper, Senior Manager of UX Design, was bombastic, exhilarating, and chock-full of curse words. He wasn’t angry at anything in particular, he was just fired up. He had this way of embracing that raw artistic fury every creative employee feels forced to sideline once they enter the corporate workplace, while inspiring you to tap into that energy and reshape it to help elevate the company.
He welcomed unbridled feedback, and had an uncanny knack of expressing his utter dislike for your ideas without making you feel like a dope for proposing them. He encouraged out-of-the-box thinking, was never afraid to revisit concepts that were thought to be long settled, and was always pushing to stay ahead of the curve.
I’ll never forget the day he went full-on Zen Master on me and told me to step beyond the monitor. “You’re thinking too small!” he shouted, “For f-ck’s sake, look beyond the screen! Interface everywhere."
"How many buttons did you have to click to confirm this meeting? How many steps did you have to take to get into my office? How can you simplify and strengthen every process so you can get your work done, grab a beer, and get home to your kid?"
Stellar boss, killer artist, solid friend – Charles will be missed.
