In this lecture, I explain the origins of Experience Design and discuss the concept of experience from a cultural-historical perspective. I also present four design approaches: linear, a-mazing, theatrical, and total. These approaches do not apply solely to digital channels, in fact, all of them emphasize to consider spaces, activities and things equally. Audio recording from the lecture http://multimidia.usabilidoido.com.br/podcasts/experience_design_broad_view.mp3

1. A broad view on
Experience Design
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
DADIN - UTFPR

3. What is user experience?

5. User experience
is not a
diagram.

6. User experience is a moment in our everyday life.
It is just like any other experience we have.

7. Some experiences are more meaningful than others.

8. We need to understand many
kinds of experiences, not just
user experiences, to design
meaningful experiences.

9. Experiences rise from the contact of the senses with the world.

10. We reflect and make sense of experiences all the time.

11. Every person makes sense differently. Even if two persons go
through the same experience, they get a different meaning.

12. The context matters a lot to meaning.

13. Meaningful experiences becomes memorable.

14. Memory organizes our experiences and generates knowledge.

15. Language and stories help us learn from other’s experiences.

16. Imagination allows us to experience what we cannot.

17. Design materializes imagination.

18. Companies are increasingly
turning to design when facing the
challenge to stage experiences.

19. Experience is the main competitive edge in contemporary
capitalism (Pine & Gilmore, 2011).

20. Customization increases the value of the offering, while
commodification decreases it (Pine & Gilmore, 2011).
Customization
Commodification

21. Digital channels are allowing services to be mass customized,
hence the increasing demand for designing experiences.

22. Mass customization implies that the user also creates value.

23. The user needs to do part of
the work that was once done
by the companies. To keep
control over it, this work must
be carefully designed.

24. Expansion of the design object
• Product design
• Graphic design
• Emotional design
• Information design
• Interface design
• Interaction design
• Experience design
• Service design
1980: complex entity 1990: emergent performance

25. 302 Model Palm VX
Expansion of the design object
1980: complex entity 1990: emergent performance

26. Epistemological shift
Technical
object
Performative
object
1980: complex entity 1990: emergent performance

27. Performative object
• It does not stay in a particular place or
particular time. It just happens all over.
• It rises from complexity but goes beyond it.
• It is characterized by relational properties such
as handling, quality, rhythm and meaning.
• It is difficult to pinpoint.

28. The user became the anchor for this fugacious object.
User research became a common practice in design.

29. The user is increasingly being conceptualized as an emotional
being instead of a pure rational being.

30. This is because users often complain about the dryness of
rationalized experiences. There is a general lack of meaning.

31. Storytelling provides meaning to experiences. Major brands have
explore this strategy thoroughly.

32. Design can tell stories through multiple senses or through one
amplified sense (synesthesia).

33. However, stories may not be authentic and generate the
opposite intended meaning.

34. How does design do that?

36. Design is making sense of things.
Klaus Krippendorff

37. Design makes sense of…
• Things
• Space
• Activities
Through…
• Form
• Function
• Structure

38. Design makes sense of…
• Things
• Space
• Activities
Through…
• Form
• Function
• Structure
Let’s
exaggerate to
see how this
works!

39. For some things, form is more meaningful than structure
and function (decorative craftwork).

40. For other things, structure is more meaningful than form
and function (the stove top closes the cleaning ritual).

41. And for even others, function is all there is (the meaning
of the key depends fully on the door that it opens).

42. Alterity experience
1. Find someone that you don’t know
2. Introduce yourself through your keys
3. Tell about the place that key gives you access to

43. For some spaces, form may be more meaningful than
structure and function (Architects of Air).

44. For other spaces, function may be more meaningful than
structure and form (the Gym).

45. For even others, structure may be more meaningful than
form and function (Jardim das Sensações - Curitiba).

46. Welcoming experience
1. Groups of 5 people
2. Create a space with the furniture available. Pile
up, twist, and cover them them if you need
3. Invite a person to be welcomed at your space
4. Take a nice picture of your guest

47. For an activity, the form may be more meaningful than the
structure and function (board meetings).

48. The function of an activity may be more meaningful than
its structure and form (street cleaning).

49. The structure of an activity may also be more meaningful
than its function and form (our morning routine).

50. How to design things, spaces
and activities in relation to
each other?

51. Four approaches to design
experiences
• Linear
• A-mazing
• Theatrical
• Total

52. LINEAR

53. The user experience is considered a journey.

54. The experience is organized as series of steps in a pre-defined
process.

55. The experience is abstracted in multiple layers.

56. A-MAZING

57. The experience is considered a decision-making process.

58. The experience is organized in multiple paths.

59. THEATRICAL

60. The experience is considered participation in a play.

61. The experience is organized to be staged by actors and enjoyed
by guests.

62. The frontstage is clearly separated from the backstage.

63. TOTAL

64. The experience is considered to be the reality (VRSI Lab -
University of Twente).

65. Total design is obsessed with details (Frank Lloyd Wright).

66. Total experience design is alienating and put too much power
over a handful of people (Manual do Partido Nazista).

67.
Thank you!
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
DADIN - UTFPR