Disrupting the autopilot.

Here’s the thing: Don’t make your event look like an event. Don’t make your big moment look like a big moment. And for the love of audiences, don’t make your presentation look like a presentation.

Because the moment people recognise the format, they switch to autopilot. And autopilot kills impact.

Seth Godin said it best. Spaces speak. Before a word’s even said, we’re reading the room. Lighting, layout, seating - it all sends cues. Subtle signals saying: “Here’s how to behave.”

So if your audience walks in and already knows what to expect? You’ve already lost them.

The experience has started before you’ve even said hello. The question is, what’s it saying?

Behavioural science backs this up. Rory Sutherland talks about heuristics. Those mental shortcuts we take. Like a well-designed door that just makes sense. No label needed.

But here’s the flip side: When everything feels too intuitive, people stop thinking. And if they’re not thinking, they’re not feeling. And if they’re not feeling… nothing changes.

That’s where friction becomes your friend. A visual clash. A change of pace. A surprise that interrupts the scroll.

Let’s take brand colour. Say your brand’s bold, red, confident. So your whole event? Red. Walls. Slides. Signage. All of it.

Feels cohesive, right?

But if everything’s red, nothing stands out. Blend the message into the background.

Now flip it. The whole room’s red. But your key message? Blue. Suddenly, it hits harder. You’ve created contrast. Meaning.

Design should never sedate. It should spotlight.

This isn’t about being weird for the sake of it. It’s about playing with expectation to keep people awake, emotionally and mentally.

Next time you’re designing a moment, ask: What are we signalling before we’ve even started? What assumptions are we feeding? And how do we disrupt them just enough to make people see?

That’s how you shake an audience out of autopilot. That’s how you turn attention into emotion and emotion into action.