Have you ever noticed how some people stay with you long after you’ve stopped seeing them? It’s rarely because you remember every conversation or every little thing they did. More often than not, it’s because of the way they made you feel. Maybe it was a teacher who believed in you when you doubted yourself, a colleague who made your first day less intimidating, or a stranger whose small act of kindness came at exactly the right moment. The details may become blurry with time, but the feeling has a way of sticking around.
The same thing happens with the experiences we have every day. We don’t always remember every feature of a product we bought, every page of a website we visited, or every interaction we had with a business. What stays with us is the impression those experiences left behind. Did they make life easier? Did they leave us frustrated? Did they make us feel valued, or did they make us feel like just another number? Those emotions often become the story we tell ourselves long after the moment has passed.
That’s why creating something isn’t just about getting the job done. Whether you’re writing an email, leading a meeting, serving a customer, designing a book cover, building a website, or simply having a conversation, you’re shaping someone’s experience. Every choice you make, no matter how small it seems, has the potential to leave an impression.
Think about the last time you came across a website that was difficult to navigate. You probably didn’t spend time analysing why it felt frustrating. You simply left. On the other hand, we’ve all had moments where something just worked. A website that was easy to use, a product that felt intuitive, or even a book cover that made us curious enough to pick it up. We may not remember every detail today, but we remember how effortless the experience felt.
The same principle applies beyond digital spaces. We remember the restaurant where the staff treated us warmly. We remember the company that replied thoughtfully instead of sending a generic response. We remember the friend who listened without trying to fix everything. In each case, it wasn’t just the action that mattered. It was the feeling it created.
Perhaps that’s something we don’t think about often enough. We spend so much time asking whether something looks good, sounds good, or meets expectations that we sometimes forget to ask a much simpler question: how will this make someone feel?
That one question has the power to change the way we approach our work and our relationships. It encourages us to slow down, to think beyond ourselves, and to remember that there is always another person on the receiving end of what we’re creating. Whether that person is a customer, a colleague, a reader, or a friend, the experience we leave them with matters.
The next time you create something, whether it’s a design, a product, a presentation, an email, or even a conversation, don’t start by asking, “How can I make this look good?” Start by asking, “How do I want people to feel?” Because while people may forget the details, they’ll remember the experience. And that’s where meaningful work and meaningful connections begin.