The Value of Magic

I’m a sucker for Malcom Gladwell, even his branded content about Lexus design. He’s so good at what he does. In the episode “Go and See” he talks about the Japanese principle of obsessing over a guest’s needs as a design principle. It’s for this that even things like the slowing of the window close before reaching the edge are taken into account (the example he gives of Lexus’ embodiment of this principle).

What the takeaway for those doing design is the price you can add to a service or product by thinking about delighting those using it. Can you think of something they might not even consider? It could be that doing this enough times over every feature pushes quality to the point where the offering becomes that much better than any alternative.

Too often, we’re just thinking about what we need as features to catch up to competitors, fill gaps in our offerings, or just get something cool to market. These are pressing needs. Even during all the fire alarms, we need to be able to take a moment to reflect on what can make interactions with what we create to be magical.