What does it mean to create meaningful experiences?

This article is based on a lecture by Nathan Shedroff entitled "Making Successful Experiences." You can follow along with the slides from his presentation by downloading the pdf.

While design is pretty intuitive to designers, we all have projects that are smashing successes and others that are brutal failures. Nathan Shedroff's goal is to create a strategy for tapping into the brilliance that creates the successes. He aims to do so by identifying what really motivates people, and understanding the depth of the emotions and reactions that go into the decision making process.

To be clear, we're talking about Experience Design (XD). This is a big term that's being peddled as the Next Big Thing, but the concept is sound and has been around for quite a while. The concept of Experience Design suggests that to create a deep and empowering relationship with a brand, you need to deliver something meaningful to your audience. And you need to follow it up at every touch point, whether it is product packaging, experience with customer service, or the tone of email correspondence; everything contributes to the experience.

Nathan proposes that our decision-making process runs through five compound layers. The more levels you can penetrate, the more meaningful or satisfying the experience will be. The first level is features. Does this service or product offer the things that I need? If so, does it do it at a price I'm willing to pay? If yes, then move on to: emotions. Does this fit all of the above criteria AND make me feel good? Does it make me feel better about myself in some way (younger, smarter, more affluent)? If the answer is yes in a deep enough way, it can override the first two levels. For example, it could make me feel so good about myself that I'll pay more than I intended, or live without some of the features I thought were necessary. Emotions can be intense and they have the capability to override the pragmatic side of our brain.

The next level is values. Does this align with how I see my peers and myself? Is it me? Then at the core of values is meaning. Does this touch on a deeper meaning? Does it offer me freedom, validation, security or enlightenment? These are the things that drive us; the deeply seeded values and motivators that we each possess.

Nathan suggests that there are 15 core meanings: accomplishment, beauty, creation, community, duty, enlightenment, freedom, harmony, justice, oneness, redemption, security, truth, validation and wonder. These meanings are more powerful than price or performance, less fleeting than emotions and they transcend our values. "The most successful experiences are meaningful." Meaning is the deepest connection you can make.

In order to touch these meanings, we need to be honest about our audience, ourselves and our company (or client). Prioritize the top five meanings for those three groups and then see which concepts are common between them. If you have 2-3 in common -- great! If there is only one, then you should try to identify why. Is the organization courting the wrong customers? Are your values stopping you from being the best person for this job?

Once you know what the core meanings are, you can apply them to everything your company does. These should be at the core of your business strategy, not just your brand strategy. Every decision should be weighed against these principles to make sure your brand and the overall experience is on target.

At this point, many people are probably thinking "Wait a minute, this is a lot of work, and most of it is done before we even get to design the product." That's true, and while it's easy to simply compete on price and features, the problem is that the competition is much fiercer and the profit margins much smaller for that kind of commoditized item. Additionally, when it comes time for the consumer to replace the item, you're back at square one, competing against your peers on price and features.

The opposite of this is to create a product or service that appeals to your customers on the deepest level, which fosters repeat business and creates brand evangelists out of your customer base. They tell their friends and family who are likely share some of their core values, and it creates pods of fiercely loyal customers. At this point, price and features are much less important.

More can be read about this topic in Nathan's book "Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experience" available at Amazon.com or by visiting his website makingmeaning.org.

Design Win!

261 sexy miles to the gallon. Volkswagon's XL1 concept car:

"...highly anticipated XL1 hybrid concept car: with a look that's part Prius, part Tesla, and part... DeLorean (dig those split windows and gullwing doors, Marty!), the XL1 appears to be stuffing 10 pounds of futurism into a five-pound bag."

Read all about it at Co.Design's blog.

Kickstarter: A clever concept for funding ideas

If you've heard of Kickstarter, chances are you've heard about the record-breaking feat by Minimal Inc who raised $600K to fund their iPod Nano watch. Since CNN covered the story in early December 2010, the company has raised even more money -- almost one million dollars in total. It's pretty amazing if you consider the money they didn't spend in market research, and the time they didn't lose trying to court investors. They simply created their idea and put it to the people.

There are so many different ideas on Kickstarter, there's literally something for everyone. The best part is that if you chose to fund an idea, you get something for your money and there are many different levels of commitment.

It's all in the spirit of giving life to new, creative ideas. Who doesn't love that?

Checkitout: http://www.kickstarter.com

The Evolution of Digital Media

The popularity of the iPad has exceeded most people's expectations, yet there are still those who don't understand its necessity. My only explanation is that they haven't used one. Many technologies over the years have claimed to change the way you live, but this is the first to have such a profound effect on my life. It has truly changed the way I look at everything and opened my eyes to what the future will be.

The switch to digital media has been both exciting and disappointing. Yes, I can organize my life better than ever before, but the experience of using many digital resources doesn't give me the satisfaction that I get from traditional means. CNN.com's new(ish) design is great example. There's more content than ever before, but the front page is a bit like reading the table of contents of an encyclopedia. Snore-fest. Yet because they create high-quality content, they continue to get hordes of visitors every day. Conversely, The Daily Beast has grown into a competitor because they use a format that presents the news in a way that's reminiscent of a printed newspaper, with big photos and hierarchical headlines. Because of this they've managed to garner quite a following, even though their content is not of the same caliber as CNN.

This principle is even more obvious when you bring the iPad into the equation. For the first time since print was declared dead, some apps have been introduced that create digital experiences that satisfy on a deeper level than just the analytical quest for facts. Some of my favorite examples are Food & Wine, Wired and Dwell's magazine apps. I subscribe to the print version of Food & Wine and when my new issue arrives, I'm like a kid with a new toy. I take the time to sift through the recipes and get lost in the beautiful pictures. The quiet, focused time is a luxury that I enjoy infinitely.

However, when it comes to cooking these recipes, more often than not, I go to my computer because I can do a quick search and find exactly what I want. My recipe software is easy to use, but couldn't be less exciting. Browsing through a list of recipe titles is about as appealing as having a man describe a sexy new pair of boots (uuh, they're black and they go on your feet). If I know what I want, it's easy, but the act of passively browsing and allowing something to inspire me is all but lost. In the end, food is so much more than just a list of ingredients, it's a multi-sensory experience and those qualities cannot be communicated in a five word title.

The iPad version of Food & Wine is the opposite of this experience. The design is similar to the printed version, but the added functionality offered by the iPad platform makes the experience even deeper. Using the iPad app gives me the same kind satisfaction I get when flipping through the print version of the magazine. It's a passive experience that allows the analytical side of the brain to sit back while the creative side takes over. It allows the experience to be emotional, inspirational and satisfying.

This kind of experience has been missing from our digital lives, and now that it's here, the future seems up for reinterpretation. Finally we can have all of the functionality of the digital age, coupled with the satisfaction of an experience rooted in the emotions that we're used to experiencing in our offline lives.