TOTAL EXPERIENCE explores designing for experience: its theory, its practice, and how designing for experiences affects us socially and in our personal lives.
CO-AUTHORS
BOB JACOBSON is fascinated by the experience of experience. A planner and technologist, Bob has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning & Design from UCLA. He's been a policy researcher, technology CEO, science writer, and consultant. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied cellular telephony's impacts on transborder communities in the Nordic Arctic Circle. Bob edited Information Design (MIT Press 2000) and is now writing a book on the theory and practice of creating edifying, transformative experiences.
PAULA THORNTON says, "Understanding human behavior (economics), optimizing interactions (design) and facilitating conversations (markets), are the means to achieve strategic differentiation. This is the focus of our discipline. It is not a 'nice to have'‚ and is not, like documentation once was, an afterthought. It is the means by which to start a strategic discussion and the means by which to drive a tactical initiative. All design should be evidence-based."
Check out IdeaFlow by Renee Hopkins Callahan for the latest on innovation trends and practices. On her radar screen: the creativity of bipolar children, Democrats' call for an "Innovation Agenda", grocery store innovations, creating a culture of business experimentation, and more.
Design News features a nice article describing the new Universal Studios theme park experience, "Revenge of the Mummy":
From the earliest planning meetings for the Revenge of the Mummy ride, Universal Studios was striving to create a "category buster." But there are limits on the absolute velocity, acceleration, and forces, as well as the number of axes of motion, one can safely subject the human body to. So the designers began to think about taking a completely different approach to creating an unprecedented ride experience: They began thinking about developing a dark ride that would blend elements of Hollywood special effects, animatronics, and advanced ride technology.
The result: The "world's first psychological thrill ride," inspired by Universal Studios' hugely successful Mummy movies. Traveling back in time 4,000 years, it plunges unwitting riders into a harrowing journey through ancient Egypt and a confrontation with an animatronic version of the mummy Imhotep, notorious Keeper of the Dead. Along the way, guests are catapulted into darknessfirst shooting 45 ft uphill in 1.5 sec then plunging down below ground level. In all, they will experience seven, near-0G moments, and whiz through several high-speed, 80-degree turns. "The goal of the ride was to make it as fun and thrilling as possible while still maintaining the target family demographic," says Mike Hightower, senior VP and the lead engineer on the project.
The article offers a thorough romp, well illustrated, through the mechanics and electronics that went into the ride, as well as describing how the experience of the ride evolved from concept to actual implementation. "Mummy" is a reminder that no matter how good digital technology gets, analog -- here expressed as real objects that move, including the audience -- remains essential to conveying intense experience.
Having read the reviews, I wonder about the wisdom and overall ROI of developing for 10 years a thrill ride that lasts for only four minutes. Hardly time to get your hair standing on end. But the reviews also reveal an affection for this ride. Here's the link to the Official Revenge of the Mummy Website. That's show biz circa 2004.
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