07 Jul Experience Digital As it was intended
Why Digital is More Spectacular When Made in Physical Space
In the movie “Me and You and Everyone we Know” by Miranda July, a young girl named Sylvie has an extremely insightful conversation with a salesperson in a department store:
Sylvie:
Where are the Braun
handheld blenders that were advertised
in the Sunday supplement?[Saleswoman points][Sylvie returns holding up a Braun handheld blender]Is it a classic instrument?
Housewares Saleswoman:
What?
Sylvie:
Is it timeless, or is it likely to go out of style in the next twenty years?
Housewares Saleswoman:
I would say it's a new classic. But twenty years is a long time. I think everything's gonna be computerized in twenty years.
Sylvie:
Soup won't be computerized.
Housewares Saleswoman:
Why not?
Sylvie:
It's a liquid.
While it’s clear that Sylvie has a basic understanding of the physical materials it takes to make something digital, and definitive priorities in the path to purchase, she doesn’t see things through a Customer Experience Design lens.
Her decision to purchase the Braun seems to be based on a few things —
A) Her familiarity from seeing the product advertised outside of the store
B) Her consideration of how the object will retain its value
C) An expert’s opinion on trend forecasts.
In today’s marketplace, the consumers are the smartest and most informed shoppers there have ever been. They are plugged in, extremely value conscious, and want to make the most informed decisions they can make before spending on any product.
To truly affect behaviors, marketers have to focus less on the design of how people interact with brands, and more on how to create meaningful experiences for humans.
Good design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible. It’s only when it’s done poorly that we notice it.
Fundamentally this idea is flawed, for 2 reasons: 1) This was said before there was such a thing as experiential design. 2) The best design is something to be observed, admired, and remembered.
The Tetra BIN is an experiential design project that illustrates this perfectly — it’s the opposite of invisible. It begs to be interacted with because it takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary and the best part of this design is: it uses actual trash to become a thing of beauty.
This is what is in store for the future of retail, entertainment, and hospitality. As digital becomes more prevalent, and more engaging, in public spaces, its design becomes the value proposition for any place attempting to draw in unique visitors, PR buzz, and swaying those online shoppers to bring their business out of home.
Let’s return to the soup example. Maybe soup itself cannot be computerized because it’s a liquid, but what is to keep it from being exciting on a shelf? How do marketers get people to notice something that has become so ubiquitous that it is readily ignored?
The simple answer is: by introducing unexpected, tasteful, and meaningful experiences.
Whether its shelf talkers, projection mapping, directional audio, or simply just lighting, soup cans could easily return to their iconic status as they were when Warhol was painting them.
So why do digital experiences provide solutions we do not expect, but fully deserve?
Currently, because personal devices are so present in our lives, we have become accustomed to these tiny computers in our pockets, that we forget that technology can also exist in different forms. When used in conjunction with mobile devices, larger digital interactions become a logical extension of the user’s journey.
Beacons, geofencing and even the infamous QR codes can be effective in coordinating efforts between personal and public tech. That is only the means, but the strategy and creative behind joining the two worlds still has so much unexplored potential.
We may not expect to find ourselves face to face with a long wall that can track our movement, detect our faces, and play relevant content but that doesn’t mean we won’t be surprised and delighted that a traditional art piece can now be controlled with nothing more than being a human.
We are predictable, but just because we are, doesn’t mean our experiences have to be.
Customers are striving to achieve connections to brands with a human experience in a digital world. Marketers and Designers should strive to provide this, rather than being satisfied with the status quo.
For more, listen to me talk about the Phygital Frontier with the Design Disturbance Podcast