Two quotes from the May 5 New Yorker popped out at me.
In the first, David Sedaris , in an article really about smoking, briefly and half seriously talks about the sense of anticipation that used to exist when opening up a record or CD. It still exists for the few who buy physical CDs, but it's a smell, a moment of pure possibility.
The second, in an article about actor Mark Rylance --who I haven't seen perform -- one of his former directors explain his genius as partially grounded in the perception he creates, like a great athlete, of simply having more time than others.
One challenge in a time of snack sized content and general distraction is how we go about designing experiences for ourselves (in our personal lives) or for others (on behalf of our clients or brands) that re-create this sense of anticipation and give ourselves time, that extra half step that is the province of genius, be it that of Mark Rylance, Michael Jordan or Diego Maradona.
Unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules for "clearing space in the mind for the miraculous" (thanks Seamus) and I think that that creates an interesting problem. Too often, if it's thought of at all, it's relegated to the space of 'experience design' or worse, 'experience engineering'. Like the point made here by David Armano great relationships are the result of the manufacture of desire, as much as the provision of usability and usefulness. Desire to find out more, desire to spend more time with someone. Desire, one hopes, to allow oneself to be pulled in and made part of the story.
Charisma, like genius, is hard to cook up in a lab. Come to think of it, it probably creates its own sense of time as well...
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