A 440

Hi folks,

Today I want to tell you about “A 440” and what that is. I want to tell you about how a great product is designed. I think you’ll find this concept amazing. I want to tell you a secret behind our goals with this camper and then I want to share something encouraging for you this week.

It’s the middle of the night and i’m in middle school. The lights are out upstairs but there’s a sound in the house that I haven’t heard before. There’s some kind of live circus music coming from downstairs and I’m more than curious what’s going on. 

I walk downstairs to hear the tune getting a little louder. My dad is at the piano trying a new piece of music after getting back from a deployment at sea. I’d never heard this one before. 

We didn’t watch much TV in our house. Everybody found a hobby and mine became building in the garage and playing piano. The piano was a part of the house but only he knew how to play it. So every day I worked to learn how to play piano by ear. Today, like then, I still don’t know how to read sheet music. 

Right around the center of the piano is a note called “A”. If your piano has that note tuned just right then the rest of the piano can be tuned in relationship to it’s sound. It’s special because it vibrates at 440 times per second and that’s exactly what your ear hears. That perfect number is exactly why it sounds just right. 

When you add another note you’re adding another frequency to make a ratio. like when E5 with a vibration of 660 times per second is added to A, The combination of the two lines up mathematically; 660 divided  by 440 is 3/2. You hear a perfect 5th. 

Every chord you hear is math. Every tune that moves you is a mathematical story of a buildup of tension and misalignment coming to resolution through perfect ratios. Good music is a math equation that’s solved. That’s what your ear is hearing, and that is so stinkin’ cool.

Design has the same effect on our eyes. We see math everywhere. Our eyes and subconscious are always looking for the “golden ratio” 1.6180339887 . Our mind covertly looks for the story of tension and resolution in design and that’s why it has an effect on us too.

What I’m trying to say is this: Anybody can pound on a piano but it takes effort to create music. Anybody can put furniture in a house but it takes effort to create the feeling of home. Psychosomatic comfort is made of thousands of instances of the alignment of math. 

Some folks say “man this camper is so comfortable”, it feels like home. And I couldn’t agree more. One angle at a time, one alignment at a time, one ratio at a time it starts to feel like resolution. It’s comfortable being in a Kimbo and it recharges your heart. I want our customers to love their Kimbo and rely on it and see it as a tool for bringing the disruption of life back into ease with a view and a coffee, overlooking a place they never thought could feel like home. 

Thanks for reading this. I want to share something encouraging for your week ahead. It’s the context of life’s challenges that give life story. Just like a piano tune strays from perfect and finally comes to a crescendo; that’s what makes a song memorable. Your life follows the same path. And with your perseverance life comes back to alignment. You’ve got your own crescendo coming. It’s your good times and your hard times too, that make you a good song for others to remember. 

Talk to you all soon,

M