The art of saying less and feeling more
Being equipped with the facts is rarely enough to motivate us to act. It’s feelings that drive our decision-making. Traditional workplaces may have expected us to leave our emotions at the door. But if we shut off our emotional intelligence, we can’t make a single decision at all. When attention is the currency of our age, we need emotion more than ever to cut through and connect.
In our research and workshops leaders often talk with emotion - sincerely passionate about what they do - and in the room they are. Yet their communications typically sound anything but. Are businesses afraid of expressing emotion? Of being too touchy-feely? Or is it that they just don’t know how. The human and emotional qualities of our professional relationships are hard to describe.
In a chilly, vaulted old church on a weekday evening last week, I was immersed in the science of how our brains respond to visual, audio and sensory stimuli. Robyn Landau of Kinda Studios enthusiastically illustrated the potential of Neuroaesthetics. This emerging field (and hot topic) encourages us to consider all of our senses when we create and design experiences. Far-from being wellbeing ‘woo-woo’ (although its application in mental health therapy is compelling), it got me thinking about how we might take a more sensory intelligent approach to the expression of business communication and brand.
In the artworld a trend for highly sensory ‘immersive art’ is becoming mainstream. Groundbreaking ‘conscious’ artist (and Kinda Studio collaborator) Hannah Marshal is creating visceral sensory experiences that transcend word and image alone. Last year, the Financial Times commissioned Hannah to create a sound installation for the #FTWeekendFestival to celebrate their ‘130 years of pink’.
https://www.instagram.com/hannahmarshall_______/p/C6pK_jWIW1q/?img_index=1
Two large scale walls, positioned in parallel, formed a walkway through which a 130 second soundscape played. Guests heard the continuous pulse of the original FT printing press beneath historical voices from the paper’s lifetime layering and weaving over each other
The experience (even just watching it online) is evocative and powerful. It commands your attention and focus, asks that you listen deeply and interpret its meaning and messages for yourself.
Brands can often say too much, try too hard to describe what they mean, and leave little space for the viewer (or listener / participant) to feel something, to interpret it in their own way based on their context and perspective.
Collaborations with artists, craftspeople and makers can have a profoundly authentic and elevating effect on brand communications. There is artistry in saying less and helping people to feel more.
Composer and musician Chris Bradley brought his talent to our brief when he composed a unique sonic identity for our client, Emerald Learning. The process of interpreting brand personality in melody and rhythm brought a new and distinctive dimension to this work. Every time we hear it, it lifts our mood.
So when we write, let’s close our eyes and imagine the spoken word, the rhythm, the beat or an interpretation in music. Let’s think beyond photography and imagine moving image, pattern or shape. Let’s envisage an environment or an experience through lighting, texture and scale. Let’s appeal to the full spectrum of our senses so that clients and customers can bring themselves to the experience and take away a feeling they won’t forget.
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
References / Reading
https://www.kindastudios.com
https://www.hannahmarshall.com
Photo by Milo Weiler on Unsplash