The Reason Behind Feelings.

You may not agree with me, but the importance of an art piece (or ad) is not the ‘big idea’ that lies behind it. Sometimes it’s the momentum, sometimes it’s luck, but essentially, I think it’s how the work can make you FEEL something.

Two Kinds of Knowledge

Reasoning, as objective as it be..will always create a subjective decision, it will always invite the ‘heart’ into the room.

That’s why some people do not like fish, and some people love broccoli. That’s why people extend their vacation and keep loving the wrong person, and it’s the same reason why people love or hate your work.

To understand more about reason and ‘heart’, let’s take a look a bit at knowledge first. According to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, there are two kinds of knowledge: 'Knowledge about' and 'Knowledge of'.

Say there’s a cup of tea in front of you

You see the color of the tea is green, you can see the hot steam, and you can smell the strong brew of matcha.

You analyze, then conclude that it's a hot green tea.

This is your ‘knowledge about’ about the green tea.

‘Knowledge about’ is how you understand things with the help of reason; but before you tasted it, you would never have the ‘knowledge of’ of it.

Then you sip the tea, and it goes down your throat, and the warmth of the liquid feels like it's warming your soul.

This is the ‘knowledge of’ of the tea, this kind of knowledge is about experience, and it uses the intuitive part of us.

Do you realize that we ENJOY things with our intuition and not with our reason?

Sometimes it’s the taste of your home meal, sometimes it's the breeze that touches your skin, sometimes it's the visual of the vast ocean and the surreal pink sunset, and sometimes it’s the combination of it all.

So, why do we keep creating work based on a concept, based on reasoning, and not on our intuitive perception?

You can blabber about modern art and put a five-long paragraph about it on a gallery wall. But, a good warm ramen on a rainy day could have more impact on you.

An ad could have a great big idea and insight, but if it does not make you feel anything then it’s just like an expensive fine dining food that gets over-explained by the chef that comes into your table. Then when you eat it, you don’t even close your eyes. In your head, you’re thinking “Hmm..this is just an expensive high-grade beef with fancy-color sauce”

What’s missing?

It’s missing a beautiful moment that a fresh raw fish can do to you.

You try to enjoy things with the wrong antenna, with reasoning.

"Does the price justify the taste?"

"Does this dish taste better compared to the one I ate at another restaurant last week?"

Great things do not explain its portfolio and the 99 reasons why you should think it was great.

Great things simply transcend.

Intuition

Personally, I think art is best served as an intuitive experience. But, what is this thing called intuition anyway??

In short, it’s a recollection of past events that’s stored up in our unconsciousness and emerges at specific moments. A dialogue between perception and memory.

In the end, our day is too short to think about what’s behind an art piece or an ad. What’s left is what it makes us feel. Some artist creates their art with this concept in mind, while some artist creates art just to put their feelings outside of themselves. In advertising, it could be overwhelming to find a sweet balance between selling points and how to touch people's feelings.

So how do we make one that would touch people’s hearts?

Usually, we use romance, drama, comedy, and even conflict, to build a message that will be communicated through visuals and copy. But, for me, the secret ingredient is the awareness of the heart. you can only reach people’s hearts by using your heart. Speaking from the brain will only touch brains, speaking through your heart will touch hearts.

One way to do these kinds of ‘heart-work’ is to use the creative emotion method.

An example:

You are just dumped by your girlfriend or boyfriend, and it makes you so sad and you cry and you drown yourself in booze for weeks...

or

You can still cry and be sad about it, but at the end of the week, you turn that emotion to write a poem.

The ‘thing’ that enables you to write that particular poem is intuition, not reason.

Sad is an energy, rage is an energy.

Falling in love is an energy.

Being inspired is an energy, feeling is an energy.

Try to acknowledge whatever feelings are inside of you, then learn to use your intuition like a pregnant woman who will give birth to songs, poems, paintings, or ads. You don’t know what your child’s gonna look like, but you’ll love it anyway, right? because it comes from the heart ;)

So every time you want to try to create great work, always keep in mind throughout the project: Does it still make me feel something?

if the answer is YES, then you actually might have a slight chance to do so.