Multiple construction deadlines and a meeting in five minutes. I’d just finished designing the past-due ceiling plan for a college’s e-sports lounge. It featured a statement piece: LED lines bending from a shared center, red against a dark grey ceiling. Like a circuit board, I thought, satisfied. I attached the sketch to an email to the contractor and was about to send when I decided to pull the 3D view up for one last quick review. My eyes widened. It made a statement alright. The design foreshortened into a clear, crisp swastika. Horrified, I canceled my meeting and started again.
Betsy Ellor is the interior designer for Endicott College (who are glad she double-checks her work) and author of the picture book, My Dog is NOT a Scientist. Linktree: betsyellor. Betsy is a Five Minutes Founding Contributor, and will be reading with Five Minutes and Molecule at the Salem Literary Festival in Massachusetts in September.