Why do we like what we like? Raymond Loewy, the father of industrial design, had a theory. He was the 20th century’s star designer of the Coca-Cola fountain and Lucky Strike packaging; the modern sports car, locomotive, Greyhound bus, and tractor; the interior of NASA’s first spacecraft; and the egg-shaped pencil sharpener. How did one man understand what consumers wanted from so many different areas of life? His grand theory of popularity was called MAYA: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. He said that people are torn between two opposing forces: neophilia, a love of novelty; and neophobia, a fear of anything too new. Hits, he said, exist at the perfect intersection of novelty and familiarity. They are familiar surprises. In this talk, I’ll explain how Loewy’s theory has been validated by hundreds of years of research—and how we can all use it to make hits. Derek Thompson is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about business, technology, and media. He is a news analyst for NPR's Monday afternoon show "Here and Now" and an on-air contributor to CBS News. The recipient of numerous awards, including the 2016 Best in Business award for Columns and Commentary from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, he is the author of the national bestseller Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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