I had never seen this coffee maker before. When I opened the top, I knew that it was not programmed and ready to go for the morning. How did I know? I didn’t need to decode the buttons and lights on the front. There was a wet filter with used grounds inside.
I walked down the hall in a hotel. I passed by several doors and I knew they weren’t for me. They were unmarked, not especially wide, and painted differently.
A man sat next to me on a plane with big headphones, sunglasses, and a hood. I didn’t talk to him.
These clues were invisible to me. I didn’t look at each thing and figure out what they meant. I didn’t notice them at all because they were off limits. It was incredibly obvious by its nature.
Tap into-ition
I love simplistic video games like Journey or The Unfinished Swan because they tell us what to do, not with intrusive direction, but with our own learned impulses. I am blown away by authors who create new words that we just understand immediately. I’m fascinated by performers who don’t seem to do much, but get huge responses from audiences.
The hard way
Our first impulse with getting action from our audience is direct direction. We put a “push” sign on a door instead of removing the handle from it. I love making signs, but they don’t really work for a lot of stuff because they take time to read, they’re demanding, and they’re unnatural. I love telling people what I want, but it can be confrontational, confusing, and boring!
I was told to make the logistics entertaining
When I got into show business, I was told to make things (like asking the sound tech to turn down my mic) part of the show. Make a joke for it. But what if I gave them an invisible signal? If I knew my microphone was going to feedback when I walked in front of the speaker (and it wouldn’t be too loud) I could just walk in front of the speaker a little bit and see if the sound tech notices. I ignore it and let them do their job.
What if a magician, instead of saying “for my next trick, I need a volunteer from the crowd. Please raise your hand and I will choose someone at random.” Instead walked out into the crowd while setting up the trick, reached out her hand to a person in the audience and guided them up to stage without talking about it. She points at the audience member once on stage and the audience cheers for them “Thank you for joining me”
How can we cut the corners and give invisible guidance?