Magic
I’ve heard a saying somewhere, it goes approximately like this:
Magic is doing something more than what ordinary people expected.
I forgot when or where I heard it, if anyone know, please share here. And I firmly believe it. I knew that concept for a long time, but that sentence pretty much sums it up.
Many people from different area of expertise know it, only with a slightly different jargon. Game industry people know it as “polishing.” Business people say “going the extra mile.” And magician will simply say “magic.”
Many people or products or companies gain success from this concept. Let me walk you through several examples.
Have you ever seen “Now You See Me” or “The Prestige” or “The Illusionist“?
No? Go ahead and watch them, I’ll wait.
Those movies show us the life of magician. Even though they are a work of fiction, they show us the ridiculous length a magician would go to amaze people. Now, I didn’t say that all magicians went to Nicola Tesla to create their tricks (spoiler alert, but you’ve watched them right?). Real life magicians went head over heels to devise ways to make your brain shouts “IMPOSSIBLE!” even if it is just a simple card trick.
Apple (or the fanboys?) always say their product is magical. From a cynical tech geek point of view, we can say their products are overpriced beautiful design with average components. But why are there so many people touched by Apple’s products? It’s the invisible stuff, or I should say the “magic.”
Apple’s innovation is not in the technology, their products use technologies that are already exist. The “magic” is that they design their products to interact with people better than other products. It is the intuitiveness. It is one of the hardest aspect in product designing. I bet Apple’s iOS team went through hell and back just to make your finger comfortably swiping through apps.
Have you ever watch any Pixar movies? If you answer no (seriously?), you are hereby mandated by me to do so.
Pixar’s movies have certain qualities that exceed regular animation movies. They have the Pixar “magic.” If you have ever seen their behind the scene videos, you would know that they have “magic” in many aspects of the movie. Deep story, relatable characters, beautiful graphics, more than other animation movies.
How far do you think Pixar would go to bring the “magic” in the graphics department? Astronomically far, Ph.D.-level far if you ask me. They even published a research paper for simulating Merrida’s hair in “Brave”!
One of the Qajoo Corporate Culture (QCC) is “Delivering Legendary Products“. What makes a product legendary? It is the amount of magic you can find in the product. It is the invisible details that we craft for weeks, or even months, into the product. Based on that QCC, we promise that we will always bring products bursting with magic to the world. We hope that the magic will touch people and make their lives better.
