The Data Can't Tell You How It Feels

Before we talk about spreadsheets and dashboards, I want to start with something closer to real life.

Consider your favourite mug. The tea or coffee just tastes better in it, right?

Ever wondered why that is? It’s not just the brand of the drink. It’s the feel of the handle, the weight of the ceramic, the memory of a loved one attached to it. Something about it just feels right.

Signals You Don’t Notice — Until You Do

Or think about the soft, smooth glide of a kitchen cupboard easing shut. That quiet click of closure — it’s barely there, but somehow it says quality. (Yes, I’m in the kitchen.)

Now imagine walking past a restaurant and being stopped in your tracks by the scent spilling out the door. Or stepping into a reception area that’s calm, spacious, and filled with natural light — and instantly feeling your shoulders drop.

These are not rational decisions. They are our constant, quiet conversation with the world. They’re sensory signals. We don’t think them — we feel them.

Spreadsheets Don’t Give You Goosebumps

And they hold the key to the work we do here at MAJOR.

Because when was the last time a spreadsheet gave you goosebumps?

In our working lives, we’ve become fluent in the language of metrics. Click-through rates, time-on-page, form completions. We build strategies from dashboards and chase meaning through analytics. We rely on the numbers to tell us what’s working.

But have you ever read a KPI report and felt understood?

Has an A/B test result ever made you feel welcome, or safe, or inspired?

Emotion Is Where Brands Actually Live

The numbers might show movement. But they don’t explain emotion. And emotion is where brands actually live.

Our job — if we’re doing it properly — is to create the digital and strategic equivalents of those sensory moments I mentioned earlier.

It’s the clean, quiet hum of a well-built website loading without hesitation, the graphics easing into view over the last few pixels — the digital echo of that cupboard door closing. The confidence you feel when every element falls into place without making you think. The instant recognition in a headline that reflects something you hadn’t yet put into words.

It’s the warmth of a brand voice that doesn’t sound like marketing copy, but like someone you’d actually listen to. The subtle trust built by a single shade of blue that feels calm and deliberate, long before the words do any heavy lifting.

It’s in the feel of a product box you didn’t expect to enjoy handling.

It's the brand video you watch right to the end, not because you have to, but because you want to know how it finishes.

Architects of Feeling, Not Just Function

These are the moments we design for. As agencies, as creators, we are architects of feeling. Our raw materials aren't just code and pixels; they are curiosity, empathy, rhythm, and surprise. Our work lives in the grey areas — between intention and interpretation, between message and memory.

The tools might be digital, but the experience is deeply human.

Data Explains What. Design Explains Why.

Data tells us what people are doing. That’s useful. But it doesn’t get to the why. And it certainly doesn’t reach the how-it-feels. That’s where the real persuasion happens.

Great brands endure not because they tick boxes, but because they tap into something more instinctive. A sense of familiarity. A spark of possibility. A small moment of emotional clarity.

Meaning Takes Care

Designing for feeling isn’t a soft skill. It’s the hardest skill to fake. And it’s the only one that truly differentiates. Anyone can optimise for efficiency. But meaning? Meaning takes care.

The brands that invest in that layer — the unseen, sensory one — are the ones that people return to, talk about, and trust over time.

Because while metrics might justify a decision, they rarely inspire one.

This Is Why It Matters

So who cares?

The people on the other side of the screen. The ones who are tired of being treated like a data point. The humans who are constantly, subconsciously sensing the world around them – discerning the authentic from the artificial, the careless from the considered, the right from the forgettable.

The interface is just the surface. Success is when we create something that resonates on a human level – a moment of clarity, a flicker of joy, a feeling of being seen.

The Echo of a Feeling Well-Created

That joy, that feeling, that's what builds brands that last. It creates goodwill that can’t be bought and memories that fuel word-of-mouth. And yes, if you are so inclined, it converts into loyalty, engagement, and cash. The numbers on the dashboard are not the goal; they are the echo of a feeling well-created.

Written whilst repeatedly closing a cupboard door for no reason other than the satisfying thunk of engineered calm. (I think I have a problem lol)