Ted Mathews, a designer colleague, has spent the past few years convincing me of the importance of rituals and sacred object in our lives. Classic examples from the Catholic mass, or the stepwise transition within the freemasons, show how well honed both rituals and sacred have become over the years. However, he has got me also seeing my own personal rituals  and their importance.
Nice then to see a special edition of design philosophy papers on sacred now (link). Design philosophy is not something for everyone, but I think its fascinating to see how our lives revolve around sacred objects and everyday rituals. Apple is a recurring theme as soon as this crops up, but Ted has plenty of everyday examples that most people don’t even notice. We recently ran a workshop on the theme, and it was surprisingly easy to use the framework we developed to generate new ideas. Rituals and sacred objects are very close to myths and legends, which are an important part of company culture and again are closely linked to stories and storytelling. All of these things are right there in front of us as designers, we just have to use them in a clever way.