Everywhere I go am like a sponge. I soak up design, layout, business model, marketing strategy, narrative, culture, the sales approach; all of it. What people see, hear, smell, taste or do when they enter a space guides their feelings, expectations and perceptions. When done right, the experience is enticing and encourages customers to celebrate whatever the seller has to offer. It’s my job to notice all the  the nuance in the mix, the wrinkles and subtle wonders that make or break them.

Having a knack for this level of discernment and reverse engineering “the magic” is a gift and curse for an experience designer. In the right environments, rich, focused engaging and attentive to the emotion and theater of brand interaction, it’s an exciting delicacy. It is the exquisite complexity of flavor, aroma and emotion that appeal to the  heightened senses of an experience snob. In the wrong environments it smells like burnt cheese and burgers in a store that sells soap. The experiences are emotionally painful like getting selected for a private, 1on1 frisking session with TSA. At least doctors give you a lollipop after a checkup.

There is a constant challenge inherent to experiences that are deemed merely acceptable. These are the experiences, often subtle, that annoy many; like a tag in the back of a shirt that makes your back itch, or the pervasive smell that doesn’t belong in the space you’re in. Who does this? Who accepts this? I am less tolerant to subtle annoyances than most. I have a few simple rules in life (and many complex ones). One of them is to cultivate that which serves you and hit the eject button on that which does not. This is an essential effort towards authenticity and self-actualization. We all do this from time to time when we’re mindful. I apply with great care and discipline in everything from habit to thought and practice. No topic is out of bounds for lifestyle design. Religion and politics are constantly thrown in the wash. This neuroses provides the motivation and opportunity for me to refine experiences to make them better, not just for myself but others.

I believe a well built brand is the culmination of many intangibles that do not flow directly to the company’s bottom line but add to its texture. This is the stuff of magic; the experience, the values, vision, story and beliefs that weather in the mind and make up culture and shape the audience perception. Sprinkle in timing and execution, and the packaged products and services become sacred artifacts; tangible testaments to something ethereal; a brand forged with intention, process, and heart. I’m not in the business of plain or blending in or accepting everything without exploration, play, prayer, analysis, and evaluation. I’m in the business of building Heroik experiences that inspire and improve lives each and every day.