I recently finished a cross-country train trip – from Baltimore to Seattle via Amtrak. It was my first time on a sleeper train and the experience was terrific.

I passed by incredible landscapes and watched our country change and shift while I read, slept, ate, and conversed. The natural beauty around us was incredible, and the sense of constant motion a unique and lovely feeling.

One aspect of this trip that I didn’t expect was how enjoyable it was to meet new people. There’s a dining car on the train, and it’s full service. The waiters sat passengers in groups of four, so at each meal I ate with a diverse set of strangers. There was a camaraderie among the people on the train, although our backgrounds and experiences were quite varied.

I chatted with an elderly couple from Vermont, a young Italian robotics engineer, a retired football fan from North Dakota, an Indian couple on vacation, and an Amish family traveling with their baby. One thing that quickly became obvious was our need to find common ground.

In my day-to-day life, I have similarities with most of the people I spend time with. We generally agree in terms of how we see the world, our political views, our sense of how things should change for the better, and the way we think everything is going to sh**. But on the train, while I spent an hour speaking with over dinner, I couldn’t assume those things about that eclectic group strangers from all areas of the world.

Instead, we performed a gentle dance together to figure out what we had in common. As if by silent agreement, we steered away from hot-button issues and focused on what brought us together. Passengers on the cross-country Amtrak train weren’t there to change the world, but I think, in our own small way, that’s exactly what we were doing.

This “finding common ground” thing (and the humanizing it led to) was made easier by being face-to-face. It is far more difficult to judge when you are sitting across from a living, breathing human being than it is when you’re merely reading their written words on a computer screen.

This brings me to my work. As a visual designer and creative strategist by profession, I believe that interactions that work to engage all our sense are the most powerful. In fact, they are the only way we can build a more beautiful world. And yet, the very nature of my job means more time enabling digital communications than the face-to-face adventure I just lived through.

It has me thinking that there must be a way to bridge the gap between what I experienced and what I do for a living. After some brainstorming, here are some ways I believe I can bring more of this “real world” stuff to my work:

1. Always, always, always remember who is sitting on the other side of the screen. A human with a body, feelings, ambitions and values. The more I remember that person, the more care I can offer them with my communications. The fact is, nothing else I try will work if I don’t first humanize what the digital world has made easy to forget. We’re all just people – for now. I retain the right to reassess this point once AI takes over the world...
2. As a visual designer, I am tuned into the parts of us that aren’t just words. The cliché that “a picture is worth a thousand words” is my livelihood. Accessibility for all people is an issue that reaches across every spectrum, and it’s something I can impact. I’m a big believer in the value of joy, and my goal is to bring a hint of that to everything I do.
3. Lastly, I need to remember to connect to my big ‘Why’, and my own humanity. My why is my purpose. It is what wakes me up in the morning, excited to do what I do. If I’m honest, sometimes I just get sucked in. I focus on finishing the work, get too task oriented and forget why I do it at all. I can only connect to others when I’m connected to myself.

Those are a few things I can do to connect to humanity, both my own and that of my audience. All of us poor souls struggling to make sense of a world that seems to be deteriorating around us, yet who can’t stop hoping things will be different.

My train companions have given me some more of that hope.

P.S. - I MUST make a plug for trains as a great environmental way to travel. No driving, you connect with people you wouldn’t normally speak to, and eat great food. What’s not to like?

AND – did you know that taking a train instead of a car for medium-length distances would cut your emissions by around 80%? Using a train instead of a domestic flight would reduce your emissions by around 86%. So really, you’re doing the world and yourself a favor when you travel by train. Give it a chance!

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