Introduction to experience design
Experience design concentrates on moments of engagement between people and brands, and the memories these moments create. For customers, all these moments of corporate experience combine to shape perceptions, motivate their brand commitment and influence the likelihood of repurchase in the future.
Experience design is not driven by a single design discipline but instead requires a truly cross-discipline perspective that considers all aspects of the brand/business - from product, packaging and retail environment to the clothing and attitude of employees.
Today, successful companies are adopting a more holistic and customer-centric relationship model built upon dialogue and interaction between brands and consumers. In doing so, they are considering and designing the 'total' experience of their brands.
Brands that deliver great customer experiences also reward the customer for the time, money, energy and emotions they invest in transacting with them above and beyond the delivery of their products and services.
This experiential value can be delivered in many different forms - entertainment, education, enlightenment or even escapism - but all will be underpinned by a deep insight into our fundamental human needs, hopes, fears and aspirations.
For instance, consider the task of redesigning a Sunday newspaper. A conventional approach might be to employ graphic designers who would change the page layout and typeface and make recommendations on how photos should be shot.
However, if the redesign were to use an experiential approach, the experience designer would first consider the 'moments' of engagement of buying the paper and reading it. How is it bought or delivered? How is it read and disposed of? What does the reader like and dislike about 'using' the newspaper? Such an approach is more likely to lead to a radical and market-beating innovation.
For example, the experience designer might discover that on opening the paper the person throws away the sections that are not relevant to them, keeping only the three or four sections that are relevant. So how about designing a personalised Sunday newspaper that gives the reader only the sections, supplements and advertising they want to read, and which is available in different sizes and materials?
An experiential design approach, therefore, considers the moments of interaction between people and brands, and seeks to generate as much value as possible from these interactions for both parties – with the aim of creating positive memories.
The true value of the brand experience approach lies in its ability to engage consumers deeply with the brand in such a way that encourages the development of mutually valuable relationships.
It is an approach that is driven less by the desire to 'broadcast' messages, whether they are wanted or not, and more by the desire to create moments that have true meaning and value for the consumer.
In short, brand experience is concerned with the development of brand moments that we want and value as opposed to intrusive brand media that we will reject.