About Me

I’m a product strategist and writer. In my day job, I’m Director of Product Strategy at frog design. I also write for Cnet on the Matter/Anti-Matter blog. This is my personal blog and does not represent the views of frog or Cnet. More details >

Recent Writing and Speaking

Interviewed by Jess McMullin of BplusD

Sustainable Design Seminar, Design Management Institute

Design Green Now, Bellingham, WA 

Panelist, UT Austin Sustainable Business Summit 

The System is the Product / Speaker at Inverge 2007 Conference

The System is the Product / Presentation to Silicon Valley PMA 

The Tragedy of the Commons, frog Design Mind

Entries in blue goose (1)

Tuesday
25Nov

The Mystery of the Blue Goose

What with all the Presidential transition stuff going on, it renewed my interest in the Presidential lectern. It’s got a very distinctive shape and has become a minor icon in itself, a physical symbol of American power that is consistently used at press conferences, and at speeches around the US and throughout the world.

I have been wondering who designed it, but so far have not been able to find anything about that. It’s another one of those examples of anonymous governmental design, like tax forms and the post office logo, that just appear and seep into culture.

There are a couple of interesting factoids I found out about it though:

  • It is known as the Blue Goose, and originated with Bill Clinton
  • It travels around the world on the same plane that carries all enormous amounts of paraphernalia for Presidential travels, such as the limos
  • It is armored to stand in the way of assassin’s bullets, and weighs several hundred pounds. This may also explain why it is unusually tall for a lectern, it covers more of the body.

If anyone has any knowledge on who designed it (I’m guessing deep in the bowels of some government department), I’d appreciate hearing.

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