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(Note: This article was published elsewhere a couple of years ago.)
She's a Rainbow
My gal is so amazing. She has this esoteric, druidic sort of world view, laced with astrological underpinnings that relate to my own down-to-earth engineering background in much the same way that oil relates to water. Yet, somehow, Lysa's spiritual, intuitive sort of presence makes the world -- at least my little corner of it -- a happier place. She owns a funky little shop in Claremont, California packed to the ceiling with incense, tapestries, crystals, candles, Celtic statuary, exotic fragrances, tribal masks and jewelry of the sort that appeals to gothic earth mothers, post-modern hippies and other refugees from our hypertensive techno-culture. Just the kind of place that, without certain romantic attachments, wouldn't appeal to me in the least.
But I must admit, when I walk into her store, I get this difficult to describe feeling of peace and comfort that is apparently shared by a significant number of extremely faithful followers. The expressions on their faces are like children on Christmas morning as they drift slowly around the shop, mesmerized by the lovingly arranged displays, picking through the object d'art as if they had found their own special treasure chest. Occasional squeals of delight are heard as one or another finds that special gift which, at that particular moment, suits so perfectly. So odd that a tiny element that means nothing to you or I can capture another's heart in ways beyond defining.
I've tried to analyze what makes that little store such a homey, personal place, but I could never quite pinpoint it until she explained it to me, and when she did, I was astonished. It was largely about color and it's very personal appeal to human emotion.
She explained that blue contributes a nurturing feel, orange stimulates the mind and greens imply healing while reds conjure up passion and purples are dreamy and mystical. Translucent whites are conductors for other colors, amplifying their effect. Sparkling crystals appeal to women while textures appeal to the men -- especially if form and function follow. She drapes the walls with bright tapestries to induce movement and darker ones to reassure them at the checkstand. She arranges her shelves so that colors of increasing vibrancy pull the eye from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling, a gentle compass for feelings as if the shopper were a traveler through a landscape of emotion.
I could see at once, that she was absolutely right, although I would never have figured it out on my own. I guess it takes a certain kind of person to have that kind of feel.
Lysa owns an iMac.
Oddly, Lysa didn't buy it because it was color coordinated. She selected it because she doesn't like computers and didn't want to fool around with computer stuff any more than necessary to do the things she needs. To her, it was just the simplest route to email. Once she set the computer up, consulted her charts to name the computer appropriately, and then spent the requisite few minutes to reach her ISP, she was happy.
But then she found out what a marvelous tool for the web it was and when she next discovered Sherlock, zillion watt light bulbs lit up over her head and she realized that here was a key to a long held dream. Lysa began to comb the globe for wholesalers of goods that most of us would never suspect existed and she found packaging companies within driving distance. She studied manufacturing techniques and learned the vagaries of the import business. She dabbled in AppleWorks enough to design labels for her new product line and then bought a scanner and a color printer so she could create her own unique look. Within four months she had constructed the beginnings of a new business. This person who disliked computers so, had accomplished more with her iMac than a whole departments of computer specialists might have done.
I was terribly impressed. I was also a bit amused that this person whose life was so completely involved in aesthetics didn't seem to recognize that she owned a computer designed to be beautiful. She appreciated that it didn't take up a lot of room, and was grateful that she didn't have to fiddle with it, but to her it was apparently just a tool.
Then one night, she turned to me and said, "I'm glad that my iMac is pretty. It wasn't that important when I bought it, but I think it makes a difference. Color is important." She took a long drag on her cigarette and went on, "I Don't think businesses realize how important color can be to an individual, but then, I don't think most businesses realize how important the individual is to the business either. I would like to see someone do a study of a company which let it's employees choose the color of their own computer. I'll bet the results would be surprising."
I'll bet she's right.
Bell Telephone was one of the first companies to invest in efficiency experts to help reduce their cost of labor. Decades ago, Bell commissioned a particular study regarding the effect of lighting upon worker productivity. The researchers first measured employee output in a controlled environment and, with metrics in hand, proceeded to replace all of the light bulbs in the factory with brighter ones. They were only slightly surprised to find that productivity increased. The next phase of the research involved changing the light bulbs to a dimmer version, but to everyone's puzzlement, productivity again improved. When the original bulbs were finally re-installed, the worker's efficiency, amazingly, improved again. It didn't seem to matter what the company did, as long as they kept doing it. What did this mean? How could this be?
It turned out that the employees completely misunderstood the company's motives. They thought that their employer was adjusting the lighting in order to improve their working conditions -- to make things better for them, giving them a little respect -- and they responded with better work. One would think this lesson might be applied more widely these days.
For many of us today, there is no tool more important than our computer. We spend more time with it than we do with our spouses and its sheer ubiquity makes the computer our primary connection to our increasingly technological culture. Our computers are very important to us in a very personal way and I hereby submit that an office full of colorful iMacs, with hues chosen by the people that actually use them, would be a better, more productive office.
I wouldn't be offended if you dismissed my thesis as so much touchy-feely, new-age dreck, but remember that we are all very different. Besides, Lysa is nearly always right about such things: I Don't advise betting against her.
For years the business community has viewed the reliable, low-maintenance, easily mastered Macintosh as little more than a toy, preferring the less capable alternatives as "more businesslike" because of their boring, utilitarian drabness. What an odd concept. Lysa thinks that fruit colored computers would be the best business machines ever made.
I think that I agree.
Don't you?
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