Hi David,
I'm intrigued with your comment:
But what Designers do IS magic! That act of synthesis towards craft
towards implementation is a wondrous magical thing once turned into a
Palm Pre or HP NetBook Mini that brings new areas of delight that were
never there before.
What's wrong with magic? What's wrong with the unexplained? Or the
secretly explained (LIKE MAGIC!).
Magic is an awesome metaphor. You're right about it's wondrous
qualities.
What's interesting to me about the choice of magic is the point of
view that sees it as magical.
There are three approaches to the point-of-view thing:
1) We look at magic from the Harry Potter or Terry Pratchett view
where there are things happening on a level that mortals aren't meant
to understand.
2) We look at magic from a more phantasmal viewpoint, where there are
forces in the universe that just defy explanation (ala Shroud of Turin
or the creation of the solar system, but on a more productive level)
3) We look at magic from the viewpoint of a professional magician (ala
David Copperfield or Penn & Teller), where the magicians view the
process as explainable, but design an experience for their audience
that is mystical.
I think, if we're going to assert that there are magical qualities to
design, we should pick which one we want to go with.
Personally, I'd go with the professional magician viewpoint, because
that means that we have control over it (and don't require special
powers). It also, in my mind, is the closest thing to experience
design as we think of it today.
One of the things I like about the comparison to professional magic is
that magicians, when they get together to talk/teach/share their
craft, don't ever talk about the "magical elements", except from the
perspective of the audience.
For example, there's a saying amongst magicians: "That's when the
magic happens" It describes the "magical moment", a point in the
audience's experience when they are to think that the core element of
the trick (such as the chosen card moving from the deck into the
magician's coat pocket) is happening. Of course, the mechanics of the
trick happened at another point in time. The magical moment is part of
the experience design, focusing the magician on the audience p.o.v.
Is that what you were thinking? Or were you thinking it might be a
different perspective on magic?
Jared
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