Noel Franus

Noel Franus
Brand experience. Sensory branding. Slightly Hairy Audacious Goals. Oh my.

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Tuesday August 23, 2005

Recap #1: What "Experience Architecture" is, what it ain't

As promised, I'm providing blurb-level recaps from the EA Forum two weeks back. (Why blurbs? Two reasons: 1) It's a short-attention-span world [sad but true]; and 2) I'm far too busy to write a formal report.)

Today's installment is based on a slide that Gregory Beck, who so skillfully led the forum, provided as a discussion tool. It's worth sharing:

"Experience architecture" (or experience design in guest-facing spaces ;-) is about...

Content-driven places

Your client's/company's story

Ideas and emotions

The guest experience

Narrative

Translation

Communication

The Experience Economy

And is not about...

Stage sets

Architectral form

Style

The "Public"

Technology

Authorship

Special effects

"Theming"

A few more IS and IS NOTs, compliments of yours truly:

EA is: something that happens first; aligned with overall business strategy; created collaboratively; driven by vision; a short- and long-term opportunity to boost relationships and loyalty.

EA is not: plugged in at the end of a project; the easy way out; done independently of other functions; driven by fear or with respect only to short-term revenues.

My final is-not: necessarily longer, more grueling, or more expensive than traditional methods. Quite the opposite: if you consider EA to be part of a discovery or scoping effort, then it's a much more accurate way of defining the needs for the rest of a space, which keeps budget/scope creep to a minimum.

Yes, I said it: doing the right thing for your customers and your company can save you money. Must be crazy talk. ( Aug 23 2005, 06:01:17 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

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