Great design is like great art. You know it when you see it. And apparently it does not take long to decide whether you like a design or not. For instance, a couple of years ago, Canadian researchers demonstrated that we make decisions about aesthetic appeal in just one-twentieth of a second of viewing a Web page. (Click here for the BBC news story.) That finding has obvious implications for the design of Web sites, but I think it also has ramifications for brand building in general.

Now that Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, many are hoping he will act boldly and swiftly (as he promised in his inaugural address) to improve the state of the American economy. If the Obama administration succeeds in doing this, marketers around the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Unlike previous U.S. recessions, this one has quickly affected people living in countries far away, including China, India and Indonesia. Marketers around the world are facing an unprecedented decline in consumer demand for goods and services.

I was at the New York Times building in Manhattan last Thursday, waiting to meet with advertising columnist Stuart Elliott. The lobby was crowded, mostly with people who were lined up to buy copies of Wednesday’s post-election paper. Observing so many people who wanted a keepsake of Tuesday’s pivotal election, I had three seemingly disparate observations on the events of the week: the awesome significance of the election of the first African-American President, the power of the Obama “brand,” and the value people still attach to paper-based media at such a momentous time.

After a month of fairly intense traveling, it seems odd that I am starting my vacation by getting back on a plane. However, here I am back at Logan Airport in Boston, waiting for a flight to Italy. Because the check-in counter at British Airways was quiet and the line at security short, I have just enough time to write this brief post to give notice that I will be away until November. As always, Dede will post a couple of items while I am away.

A couple of weekends ago, I read an essay by Roger Lowenstein in the New York Times. In the article, titled “Long-Term Capital: It’s a Short-Term Memory,” Lowenstein made the point that the turmoil in the financial markets is a case of history repeating itself, and that the root cause is reliance on statistical models that underestimate the complexity and volatility of financial markets. Hmm, I thought, that sounds familiar.

Lowenstein suggested that the demise of Bear Stearns earlier this year bore an uncanny resemblance to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management ten years earlier. Both companies were led to the brink of disaster by “complacent trust in financial models” and an unwillingness to admit how overleveraged they were.