Friday August 26, 2005

Full recap, Experience Architecture Forum at Harvard GSD

As promised: this is the last of an informal, scannability-oriented series of recaps from the Experience Architecture Forum in August at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Thanks to Greg Beck for sharing his thinking and articles with us.

FIRST OFF: TAKEAWAYS

Let's jump to the chase and get straight to the big takeaway: it's the ideas around designer as translator; story-driven spaces; and strategy before technology or design. For the bullet-point versions of the big takeaway, see my entries from earlier this week. But for the longer version, Gregory Beck's article from Lotus in 2003, The Architecture of Experience, (PDF) is clearly a must-read.

Why, you ask? What's the article mean for anyone involved with guest-facing spaces? Here's what it covers:
- What humans are looking for in a space
- How "experience architecture" projects achieve their impact
- Four elements that define a compelling guest experience
- Why most "traditional" architects had (or have) a bias against "experience architecture"
- Four lessons for guiding your own experience-architecture projects.

For anyone in a large organization looking to improve guest experiences (as I am), this thinking is as good as gold.

BRIEF SPEAKER RECAPS

Advance apologies for cutting any of this down to 100-word recaps. It's wrong, plain wrong. But only slightly better than giving you nothing at all. And so...

-- Mapping it out with Nancye Green
Before American Girl was "a store in Chicago," it was a raw vision that needed poking, tinkering, refinining. Nancye Green, the store's designer, let us in on some of the exercises they worked out before AG settled on the Mag Mile. One such idea was an AG steamboat experience. And her firm, Donovan/Green designed some remarkably beautiful -- but more importantly useful -- experience maps for helping everyone get a sense of each customer's on-board visit and that relationship to the bottom line. Go see Nancye speak when you can just to get a peek at those maps.

-- How many grande frappucinos is that, anyway?
Historian Bryant Simon is working on a book about the cultural cache of Starbucks. When you step back and realize that Starbucks is neither about coffee nor real estate, you start seeing the world differently, as Simon has. Broad-stroke themes (which don't hold a flame to the real presentation): safety through exclusion (homeless people can't afford four-dollar coffee drinks); universal appeal (look up and see modern, creative styles; look down and the design is more reserved); and a nonthreatening environment (no piercings or tattoos, please). These are some of the tactics Starbucks has employed to make their shops the place to be in different parts of the world. And it certainly pays to consider the thorough, vision-driven planning that's required of a company hoping to move from a mover of goods to a global cultural icon and lifestyle brand.

-- Forget bling. It's all about creative captial.
Dave Norton of Stone Mantel took the Starbucks conversation further with an interesting but sensible take: creative capital is something we're all after -- and Starbucks gives those who are high on economic capital but low on creative capital a chance to get in the game. I'll buy that. Norton adds a nicely wrapped overview for offering creative capital: it's produced by people (not companies) through conversations (not messaging) in significant settings (through the use of storytelling). Dave's just starting Stone Mantel after years with Yamamoto Moss; say hello and be sure to subscribe to his newsletter.

-- And then came The Producers
And then there was Starizon, who presented the notion that regardless of where you're coming from (be it architecture, marketing, brand, etc.), you're an experience producer if you're working on spaces. People will respond to what you give them -- might as well make it intentional rather than accidental. Personally, I can't help but immediately translate that to perception is greater than reality, so get to work on creating well-crafted perceptions...but the good news here is that Leigh Adamson and Jeff Bensky are rightfully concerned with making reality and perceptions one and the same. They point to their work with the Mid-Columbia Medical Center as an example: the MCMC represents a holistic reframing of what the concept of a hospital is/could/should be, and it's a powerful example of innovation in an ages-old model. That kind of change doesn't start by rethinking logos or advertising campaigns; it's driven by a vision and carried out in all levels of an organization. I'm looking forward to visiting Starizon during the ThinkAbout conference.

ROUNDING IT OUT

Other excellent speakers from the forum who deserve far more space than I'm giving here: (I've lablelled them "excellent," but I should also mention that every single one was thought provoking, entertaining and affable, and I'd love to hear/see each of them again.)

- Deanne Beckwith, Herman Miller
- Wayne Hunt, Hunt Design
- Gregory Beck AIA, Architecture + Experience Design
- Hugh Darley, IDEA/International Design and Entertainment Associates
- David Bianciardi, Audio, Video & Controls
- Margaret King and Jamie O'Boyle, Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis

LAGNIAPPE

Go experience:

Ambient Devices
American Girl The Drake for Tea
The Reagan Library
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Volkswagen Autostadt
Vans Skateparks
Let's Dish
Cereality
The Kohler Resort/American Club
Santa Fe
Herman Miller's HQ
The Brand Experience Lab
Disneyland
Las Vegas (Related: read this Architectural Record article from Gregory Beck re: the changing model of "experience design" in Vegas. )
The Library Hotel

That should do it. If you didn't attend, you obviously missed out. If you did, let's continue the conversation.

( Aug 26 2005, 02:09:55 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]