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.
