I'm sitting in a Starbuck's and just heard "Into the Mystic," one of my favorite Van Morrison songs. Why is it a favorite? Because it's a great melody, with just the right amount of blues and mysticism. For me, it hits the VTM (Van The Man, as we old time Morrison fans call him) sweet spot.
Where'd the idea of a "sweet spot" come from? Our Wikipedia buddies define the term as:
a place, often numerical as opposed to physical, where a combination of factors suggest a particularly suitable solution.
And they cite its origin as the context in which many of us first encountered it:
The term originally referred to various pieces of sporting equipment, notably baseball bats and tennis racquets. When hitting the ball, the bat (for instance) will rebound, but there is a location along the bat where this force is completely balanced out by turning force of the bat. If you hit the ball closer to the end of the bat, the grip of the bat will try to rotate forward out of your hands, whereas if you hit it closer to the handle, the bat's tip will try to rotate forward. There is a small "sweet spot" where these two tendencies cancel out.
If you've ever hit a ball - tennis, baseball, golf - on the equipment's sweet spot, you never forget it. The experience is grand: the ball flies off the bat/racquet/club while the handle just sits there feeling rock solid. No wobble, no rotation, no "buzz"; just rock solid. Like "Into The Mystic."
I often experience this sweet spot when driving my car, the wonderfully engineered Audi A6 4.2. The car helps me take curves perfectly: not too fast (too much opposite side lean), not too slow (too much curve boredom).
I also just started reading the Fast Company article about the fascinating Marissa Mayer, who is responsible for keeping Google's home page elegant. A quote from the legendary designer, Milton Glaser, jumped out at me:
Less isn't more; just enough is more.
Yes, that's perfect.
Just enough = elegant = the sweet spot.
That's what I'm looking for whenever I design anything: a meeting experience, a document, a culture. Just enough excitement, just enough colorful language, just enough structure.
Like Einstein said:
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Here's a little Van The Man to give you a taste of what hitting the elegant sweet spot sounds like.
Tags: Design Marissa Mayer Van Morrison
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