Experiential Design
Experiential design is a broad concept that includes a range of activities from designing branded experiences for museums, zoos and other cultural institutions to exhibition spaces for nonprofits. Regardless of the type of experience you’re trying to design, it’s important to remember that every component should be aligned with your brand strategy and your goals for attracting visitors and keeping them engaged.
One of the key challenges of executing a Experiential Design sprint is finding the right people to participate. It can be difficult to get senior executives to block a week in their calendars and focus solely on the design sprint process. If you can find a group of individuals who are willing to participate in a design sprint, the benefits can be huge.
Sprints help you bypass back and forth decision-making cycles, reduce the cost of failure of final deliverables during user testing, and empower stakeholders to actively contribute to the solution. They also make it easier to demonstrate ownership of the final product. This makes it less likely that high-level stakeholders will reject the final solution, and more likely that they’ll be willing to defend it.
Sprints in Experiential Design
A sprint is a five-day, cross-functional process for solving complex business problems. Its goal is to take the best ideas from an innovation team and rapidly prototype, test, and validate them with real users. The process is highly effective and accelerates the time it takes to move an idea from concept to scalable impact. It also reduces risk by minimizing the number of assumptions that must be tested.
During the first day of a sprint, a team is assembled to define the problem and map out the project roadmap. This involves a combination of tools, including empathy mapping, a customer journey map, and a swimlane diagram. Once the team has established a clear understanding of the problem and its scope, they can start brainstorming solutions.
The next two days are dedicated to developing a rough prototype. It is important to note that during this phase, it’s okay to have a lot of ideas and questions. The purpose of the prototype is to provide a platform for testing. The final day of the sprint is spent interviewing users and watching recordings of their interaction with the prototype. This provides the team with a direct view into how well the prototype is meeting its goal and where there is room for improvement.
After a design sprint is complete, the team will have a better understanding of how to prioritize the most promising ideas for further development. Ultimately, this will lead to a solution that is both aesthetically pleasing and meets its goal of providing a positive user experience.
Embedding sprints into your workflow is one of the best ways to ensure that your team always tests with users. This will allow your team to identify potential obstacles and address them before they become costly roadblocks. By taking the time to build out a prototype before you present it to your target audience, you’ll be able to minimize the chance of rejection and maximize your chances of success.