As anyone who’s driven across Wyoming a couple of times like I have knows, it’s got to be one of the top five most beautiful states in our current collection of fifty. Its got Yellowstone, Old Faithful, the Grand Tetons, the Bighorn Mountains, Devil’s Tower, dinosaur fossils, and breathtakingly beautiful vistas. With all that, here’s their new commemorative state quarter:

What a missed opportunity. I know that cowboys and buckin’ broncos are a big part of their heritage (and that is their state symbol) but with all that natural beauty at hand, they pick what appears to be a chrome silhouette better suited for the mudflaps of an 18-wheeler hauling cattle to market? It’s not even an attractive engraving. It looks more like something cheaply produced in a South China metal stamping plant.

We all know how Apple’s focus on the customer-experience design has resulted in a passionate user base, surging profits and a stellar stock performance. But how does this apply to other companies?

“…A three-year study of more than 40 Fortune 500 companies by the research firm Peer Insight found that companies focused on customer-experience design outperformed the S&P 500 by a 10-to-1 margin from 2000 to 2005.” FastCompany