RAD Friday

One of the most interesting creative concepts is harmonic dissonance.  It’s the ‘je ne c’est quoi’ of creative endeavours that separate the good from the great, the almost from the amazing. Hard to define, but clear when it's there.

It’s why the oreo cookie has been found to be as addictive as cocaine – salt and sweet are opposite ends of the taste wheel, and shouldn’t go together. But the right amount of salt creates harmonic dissonance with the sweet.

My favourite expression of this comes from the world of perfume making.  The ‘almost’ perfumes that little girls prefer are very simple. Full of sweetness and floral tones, they have no dissonance - sweet without the salt. But the more mature, rounder perfumes that women prefer have, at the core of them, something which smells quite awful, often fecal matter.

Isn’t that astounding? It gives the scent a complexity we find attractive.

To me, it’s like this sign from the universe that life isn’t supposed to be perfect, that beauty needs some ugly, that success needs some failure, and that maybe, in some way we don’t understand yet, we all need 2020.

Have a great weekend,

Richard