Individual Learning Journal

Individual Learning Journal Kwok Yat Ying Florence 14042572d

SD3265 Experience Seminar Jorn Buhring

understanding o f t o pic

What is expe design and w important?

erience why is it Experience design is a relatively new concept and practice within the creative industry. Many different fields of study (i.e. business, psychology, and linguistics) are involved and related to the idea of experience design. It is an emerging discipline. Experience is an important and unavoidable part of our lives. It could be buying a coffee from Starbucks, riding a rollercoaster or going on a spiritual long walk. More importantly it has impacts on us and leaves us impressions. Since the economy has shifted from a function-basis to a service-basis, consumers are no longer satisfied by a product that is merely functional, but an experience that has personal significance.

Experience design is like solving a problem by multiple approaches from multiple perspectives. Instead of focusing on one specific discipline of design, experience design has a more holistic vision on the subject matter, which is very likely to be a more effective kind of design compare to any others. The topic is definitely worth studying.

The 4 Realms of Experience Confusion

Entertainment, esthetics, education and escapism are the 4 dimensions of experience. Sometimes it is hard to suit a particular activity or experience into one of these realms according to the framework by Pine and Gilmore (see figure 1). The framework focuses on 2 important sets of properties, passive participation vs. active participation; absorption vs. Immersion. When I was designing the missions of my project, I wanted them to encompass aspects of all the four realms. There are several missions that involve the activity of eating, so I started to think about how the “eating experience” fit into the framework. First, it was kind of confused to me whether I should put it under active or passive participation, because it sounds like both! It is active because it’s an action, that simple. However, on the other side, eating is a basic human need which means you don’t even have to think about it when you eat, it’s an act of subconsiousness. Isn’t it passive in that kind of sense?

Secondly, is it absorption or immersion? Well, again

it sounds like both. The case of absorption is pretty self-explanatory. One of my missions has a designated scenario which is the traveller go visit a resident in his stilt house and they eat together. This eating experience is more of a complex because of its context. The people involved and environmental setting of this mission might lead to immersion somehow. Up to this point, I think it depends a lot on the context of that particular eating experience when it comes to categorizing the experience into one of the 4 dimensions. Besides, the line between opposite sides of the framework is pretty blurry, so I believe the framework should only be used as a reference, sometimes we might need to add in critical interpretation or even modification instead of using the preset framework as it is. There’s still room for verification and I shall read some more about the topic in the future.

Figure 1 Source: Adapted from Pine and Gilmore (1998)

The “Esthetics” myth

When I first heard of “esthetics” within the 4 realms of experience, I really thought it was about promotional items, posters, brochure… that kind of stuff. In fact it isn’t just about graphic design but also behaviors, sounds and psychology. I haven’t mix in any of the above 3 aspects in my project because I still haven’t fully understand it by now. When I look at my notes about the elaboration of esthetics, it says “It is what make your customers want to come in, sit down and hang out.” I was trying to refer back to my project, I designed a vending machine, passport and stamps, which in my opinion, did have something to do with “esthetics”. One of the functions of those props is to encourage travellers to participate in the travel scheme by means of visual impact. Visually attractive props could be one of the reasons why the customer would want to “come in, sit down and hang out”. It makes them want to be part of the experience. Undisputedly, there are so much more to “esthetics” other than graphic design, but graphic design is definitely one of the tools or triggers that can enhance the esthetic value within an experience.

wo rkf low p r oblem

murphy’s law “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Edward Murphy said.

My computer broke down at a very crucial stage of my project. This teaches me to never argue with Murphy and better be taking necessary precautions anytime even though when I feel like it is unnecessary. Regarding my situation (my computer is like…7 years old), from now on I am going to backup my files every week to make sure I won’t have another emotional breakdown next time my computer dies on me. The best solution should be getting a new computer as soon as possible, probably a macbook (as soon as I can afford it).

A change of attitude I got stuck at certain points throughout the subject. I realised that If I do not completely understand a concept, then I cannot think critically about it and I am not able to continue with my work. Most of the time, I will refer back to my lecture notes and research about the topic on the internet. I think the 2 methods did help me to clear up some of the confusion and misunderstandings but they are way too time-consuming. A better and more effective way of solving the problem would be just reach out for my tutor or friends and ask them! Apart from saving time, this also helps opening my mind and broadens my perspective. The reason I didn’t choose to go straight to my tutors and classmates is more or less related to my personality. I always prefer keeping things to myself and seeking solutions to a problem on my own. After 2 semesters of my study in Poly U, I can see how much this habit is slowing me down. There’s an urge for a change now, I cannot go on like this because it’s not worth the damages! Starting from now, I need to step it up and take the initiatives to ask questions and communicate with others whenever I got stuck on something.

My hand written notes

Table that I made by Word to organize thoughts

design process When I cannot think systematically, I use hand writing notes, diagrams and tables to put the pieces together, so I can have a more clear view of what I am about to do and kind of creating the skeleton to my work. I like using pieces of paper to write but I found it a bit too messy, there are papers flying all over my workspace. The picture on the left shows some of the notes I made, but I’m sure that’s not all of it, I just fail to locate them! How awful! If I had written down some good ideas for my project, I would have lost them already together with the papers. Next time, I should have a clear folder or binder to gather all the notes I made and put them all in one place!