Experience by Design

It is not like we need a building in which to teach. Thinking back to Socrates, he was conducting his teaching in an open-air market, influencing younger generations to the point where he was forced to drink hemlock. At the same, a good educational structure can help. I have taught in a variety of environments, and have seen educational technology go from transparencies to PowerPoints and now Open AI. I have taught in amphitheater set ups, rooms with rolling desks, long tables, and small conference rooms. I’ve had chalkboards and white boards and smart boards. I’ve been in old building and new buildings and everything in between. The question always remains how best to create a structure in which teachers and students can come together to create learning experiences. There is a saying in design that all design projects are political, involving different stakeholders, points of view, and institutional power. Designing educational environments is no different. Working for about a quarter century in higher ed has taught me that when going into an educational design project, we need to be prepared to blend the old and the new, the young and the established, the administration and faculty, corporate and academic, and many other groups. This makes the process of creating a design very arduous before the cornerstone is laid.Today in the Experience by Design Studio, we’re excited to welcome Mary Ruppenthal. Mary is a registered architect, an ESG advocate and associate principal at HED, one of the oldest and largest architecture and engineering firms in the country. She oversees PreK-12 and community education projects at HED and is a specialist in flexible and adaptive learning environments and incorporating wellness into educational and space design.In today’s conversation we set a baseline around the rise of mental health and wellness in not just educational spaces, but spaces for everyday life. Think schools not just as educational centers, but as community centers that can serve families as well as students. We also explore designing with and for nature, such as biophilic design, and also like nature, we explore dynamism in design such as spaces that can change and adapt to different size groups and informational changes on screens.

While technology may make it seem like we are constantly connected, the truth is that in many ways we have never been more disconnected from one another. The same devices that can bring the world to our fingertips can at the same time drive a barrier in between real moments of authentic connection. In many ways, this divorces us from ourselves regarding our true human nature. As human beings, we not only crave connection but also need connection. While Maslow put love and belonging in the middle of his pyramid, we could easily argue it should be at the top. Or at least, without feelings of belonging and connection, can we ever truly be our selves. For experience designers, we should be wondering how we can create experiences that provide for connection and belonging. As social scientists, none of this is new for we have long recognized the fundamental need for connection. However, in a society like the US that seems to prioritize the individual, we can forget that we can’t have an individual without a social. The trick then is how might we turn spaces into conduits for connection and belonging. Or, in order words, how do we reverse the ongoing atomization of our lives.Today in the Experience by Design Studio, we have the honor of delving into the world of event planning and harnessing serendipity with our special guest, David Adler, CEO of Bizbash.Throughout our conversation, we'll be diving into the details of soft power, collaboration, and emotional contagion. We'll explore how David's insights can help us create new opportunities and possibilities that might not otherwise exist. David is a pioneer in understanding the power of collaboration artists and how they can generate unique ideas and solutions while mobilizing diverse networks towards common goals. We'll also explore his thoughts on fostering collaboration and innovation, intergenerational interaction, and the impact of technology on our social connections. Oh and how to have a good Jeffersonian dinner party.It’s a great convo we can’t wait to share, so sit back, relax, put your tray tables in an upright position and get ready to explore the art of experience by design with our guest David Adler.

Much of our lives, especially in organizations, is governed by process. In fact, organizations can be evaluated based on how mature their processes are. Technological systems are set up to implement processes that employees are supposed to follow. At the same time, process can be a killer of innovation. When we are wedded to processes, we can lose sight of the practices that people can employ to make customer experiences better. Thus we end up in a tension between process and practice, the established ways of doing things and the emergent skills of how things get done. And there are a lot of choices in how we get things done. Technological advances like generative AI, chat bots, and other shiny objects can create the perception that all we need to do to improve our processes and outcomes is just adopt a new technology. In all of these considerations can be lost a key element to customer success: people. It is in the ideas of people and the voices of people that we can find solutions.Or as Simon Sinek has said, if you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.Today on Experience by Design to help us explore the intersection of process, practice, and people is Rick Denton. Rick is the founder and lead for EX4CX, or Execution for Customer Experience. Rick is a long-time customer experience advisor, as well as a keynote speaker and podcaster for the CX Passport Podcast - a weekly talk with guests about customer experience and travel. As a consultant, he has been able to work with such companies as Hilton, Bose, CapitalOne, and Dell.How can we use technology for the betterment of our customers? E.g., we talk about rethinking displaying information, like if I have to change a flight, the app or website clearly shows what I already paid, and what potential new costs will be before having to go through the checkout process. This way I can make better decisions. The point is to understand what people need and design for that. Not for what your board or even you alone think is best.

When I was growing up, I used to hear a lot of commercials for a group called The Starving Artists Group. The ad would talk about how you could go to a local mall and get paintings and other art work really cheap, because after all the artists were starving and apparently desperate to find food. It also was not a good ad for going into the arts. Afterall, who wants to starve?But we also cannot deny the importance of the arts, and the essential element of the arts in driving our creativity and even human nature. We can say that the further we get away from our artistic nature, the further we get from our human nature. The trick is then, when doing corporate work, how do we stay in our artistic and creative nature? And how can we remain being artists without starving?To help us break down the creativity, art and making a living conundrum, we’re excited to welcome to the Experience by Design studios Maximillian Piras, a senior product designer at Headliner. Headliner is a platform that helps podcasters repurpose their content to expand their audience reach and creative output.Headliner is not just an app to help you turn longer form content into shorter form clips. Rather, their goal is to help you “repurpose your purpose,” by creatively redefining content for different audiences and outlets. In our social media laden world, creators have the challenge of fitting one form of content into many forms of medium. By using the suite of Headliner tools, creators can be freed from the mundane aspects of this process, allowing them to focus on their artistic and creative sides. We’ll dive into the innovator's dilemma, which is about balancing sustaining vs disruptive innovation, the challenges and opportunities of AI for creativity, and the power of art to help us reframe problems. There’s a ton of great ideas across this conversation and we can’t wait to share it.  

We’ve all heard the saying that change is hard, but it is more than that. Change is not only hard, but can be threatening, as well as inevitable. Change is something that takes place naturally, and is impossible to stop. When things change around us and we fail to change with it, then what was once familiar can now feel foreign. While before we might have felt like we belonged, now we can feel out of place. These outcomes can be especially true when change is rapid and sudden, as well as something that we are not wanting to have happen. We can see this in the way that societies change, and how parts of society can resist and rebel against those changes. But, regardless of whether we want change to occur or not, change will happen.The workplace has been undergoing tremendous change of late. From the COVID and work from home, to global teams, to technological transformation, mergers and acquisitions, and shareholders versus stakeholders, much has been discussed and done in terms of how work and organizations should change. If change is threatening and scary, then how do we make it less threatening? And how do we get structures to change that have for a long time resisted change? To discuss these questions and more, we welcome Paul ter Wal, who started the consulting company Team ANDARE to the Experience by Design studios. We discuss how to keep the human at the center of the organization such as viewing orgs as groups of human beings vs people as a human resources problem. We also explore shifts in mindsets where companies can optimize working environments for employees.A big part of Paul’s work is the use of Positive Psychology toward creating a sense of place and purpose in organizations. His approach involves facilitating people to do work, rather than managing them. Rather than thinking of change as a goal, we should think about developing instead. Taking it slow and one step at a time can lead the way turning in an entirely new direction. Developing sounds like a more natural and welcomed process rather than an abrupt one. By helping to support the people in organizations, the organizations themselves will benefit in the long run. Finally, we talked about Gen X as the forgotten generation.

The podcast discusses the evolution of video games and the impact of design on inclusivity. It explores challenges faced by new players in Apex Legends and the importance of the first-time player experience. The chapter also delves into building community in Apex, representation and empathy in video games, character costume changes in game remakes, the impact of sexualization on women players' self-perception, and unpublished academic papers and video game ideas.

Good health is one of the things that we value as most important in our lives. When other tragedies strike, people often will remark that at least they have their health. And even when all other things are going well, being in poor health (even momentarily with a minor illness) can completely through us out of balance. But despite the importance of  our health, our relation to and understanding of our health can be pretty limited. Healthcare literacy and patient literacy continues to be a challenge for most people. And there can be a lot to understand and keep up with giving that healthcare information continues to change as new things emerge (like pandemics), new discoveries are made, and new products are marketed.So the challenge becomes how do we communicate healthcare information to help providers, patients, and caregivers in their efforts to achieve better healthcare outcomes.Today’s guest on Experience by Design to help us address these questions is Kristie Kuhl, Global Managing Director of Health and Wellness at the Zeno Group. Kristie began her career as an attorney, but before that majored in art history. We discuss how her beginnings as an art history major helped her understand the complexities and nuances of meaning. She channels this understanding to think about how people receive messages and information, recognizing the importance of meeting them where they are. Her legal background ironically helped understand the need to have clear representation of meaning and the need to communicate in ways that people understand. And her concern for people and desire for positive health outcomes has helped to bring both of her worlds together at the Zeno Group.We talk about her journey into the world of healthcare communication and what she has learned in the process. We explore how diagnosis is an emotional moment, and that healthcare products are often ones that no one really wants to buy.  We talk about the need to stylize communication for different communities, cultures, and generations. Finally we talk about the importance of communication training for people who have knowledge, and how to connect content to an audience’s humanity. 

Anyone who is in education knows the challenge that exists when we are trying to deliver content that connects with students. It can be hard to remember that the material that exists us might not be that exciting for the students. Although, I do find it hard to imagine that sociological theory isn’t fascinating for everyone. At the same time, there is plenty of academic and scholarly material that I find completely indecipherable. When you read this material, you can see how it is confusing, lengthy, and perhaps even boring. Academics write for other academics, and when dealing with students who are not academic, the question becomes how do you get them excited, interested, and keep their engagement. The answer in many ways is pretty simple. As with any population, you have to speak their language. Or if not be fluent in their language, at least communicate in a way that they understand. In other words, you have to be learner-centric in your approach.Today’s guests on Experience by Design have a strategy that might just help in this area. Emily Ritter knows the challenge of connecting with students.  As a PhD in political science that explores human rights, domestic conflicts, and international relations, her work is relevant to the major issues of our time. But even that can get lost on students who can’t wade through text books and journal articles. And imagine that compounded when trying to share complex ideas with policy makers and the broader public. To solve this problem, her and her graphic artist husband Darick combined their super powers and started Sequential Potential, a company that takes educational content and turns it into comic books and graphic novels. The results are a stunning depiction and portrayal of academic concepts and content in a way that is accessible to readers of all ages. Emily is joined by doctoral candidate in history Travis Hill, who also is a comic book creator and Sequential Potential employee. Together, we explore the challenge of creating academic content that connects with audiences. Their mission is to help all people understand the processes and evidence of rigorous research and connect those findings to their own lives. In an era of “did my research,” we definitely need more voices that can bring rigorous research into the public sphere in an accessible way. And Sequential Potential shows us one way of doing it.It was a fascinating and frankly inspirational talk about how to bring academic material to the mainstream through the universal language of comics. 

Here at Experience by Design, you might not be surprised to find that interior design is not our strong suit. We really don’t know what colors go with what motifs, what furniture matters (outside of comfort), how to create flow and space, and anything else that interior designers may consider when going about creating the environments that we inhabit. It turns out that there is much more to interior design and creating environmental experiences that one might assume. The carbon footprint cost of interior design can be high, and interior spaces of offices can be primary contributors (or culprits). Thus, we might miss the environmental costs of our environments. And it turns out that creating change in how we think about our interior spaces and consume products in relation to them is a lot more difficult than changing our furniture and wall hangings. To help us address these issues, we welcome to the Experience by Design studios Jon Strassner. Jon is a Chief Sustainability Office . He comes to this job after a longer period of time trying to raise awareness and behavioral change around environmental sustainability and the climate. In this episode, we explore how he approaches his role of creating awareness to create more environmentally sustainable designs. We discuss the balance between overwhelming people with information against failing to act quickly enough, getting enough people on board for scale impact, and introducing enough friction to get people to act. It’s tricky, but what Jon shares with us is right in line with an ethnographer’s point of view - you need to take a holistic view. 

The idea of pleasing customers goes back as far as the beginnings of human history. A 3,800 year old clay tablet with cuneiform writing from the city of UR is perhaps our evidence of customer complaints. A man named Nanni complained about the quality of copper he received to Ea-Nasir, along with issues with subsequent delays. A quote from the tablet says, “What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt?” The letter goes on from there with complaints about the lack of customer service and experience. In fact, this might be the world’ first Yelp review.So clearly customer service and experience are not new concepts, even if they are relatively new terms. Why then does it seem like we are still struggling in the same way that Nanni struggled. Despite various technological advances, why does it still seem like in many ways customers are moving backward in terms of their experiences? Is the Customer Experience movement helping or hindering the creation of good customer experience? And perhaps most interestingly, on a scale of 0 to 10 how likely was Nanni to recommend the copper vendor Ea-Nasir to his friends and family?To explore these questions, and many more, we welcome Alex Mead to the Experience by Design studios. Alex is well known in CX circles for his strong positions and ideas on what the field of customer experience needs, as well as what companies need to do to create better experiences. Alex knows that to improve customer experience, you have to start with employee experience. Companies often fail to conduct a systems analysis to get to the root cause of their issues. And if they do, they seldom want to hear the results and actually act on them. The outcome is a replay of the same kinds of issues that Nanni had to deal with 3,800 years ago.Alex takes us through his EPIC framework for customers, which stands for Easy, Personalized, Intuitive, and Contextual. We also talk about his TIME framework for employees, standing for Time, Information, Motivation, and Empowerment. Ultimately, we need to focus on delivering the experiences that people want, and not the ones we force them into. It was great to hear Alex’s decades of experience dealing with employees and customers, and trying to build better connections between them.