Before the Semester

I took some time before classes started to decide what I wanted to accomplish for my FYP and what interests me. When I considered the things I enjoy, a few keywords immediately sprung to mind. Specifically, that is: prototype, installation, technology, interactive. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to finish my internship with a company that specialises in brand experiences. I enjoyed working at the agency, so as my interest in the subject grew, I wanted to conduct some preliminary study to generate ideas for my FYP research. The first thing I had to do, given the abundance of "big" words, was look up the definition of brand experience and information on how/if experience might be designed.

Initial research

Through my initial brief research, I discovered the following: Experiential design is a multi-disciplinary design approach that prioritises human-centric environments supportive of positive experiences and enhancing users’ and visitors’ well-being. Experiential design applicability is broad, touching many disciplines. All spatial design is experiential design – it is intended for human beings to experience. Like other experiential concepts, such as experiential marketing and art, experiential design emphasises the experience a person has with a built environment. In this context, experience emcompasses a person’s physical, cognitive, social, cultural and emotional experience with a space.

There are five major categories of experiential design:

Exhibition Design: A hybrid of storytelling and environment. Often found in museums and art galleries.

Environmental Graphics: Messages, information or imagery that’s attune to the environment it’s displayed in.

Entertainment: Concerts and events rule this category. These experiences scale from small to very big.

Marketing: Sensory experience like Times Square in NYC. Guerilla marketing, and product experience and launches.

Placemaking: Public installations and landmarks which define the space around us.

There are seven different ways (and counting) to achieve an experiential design installation. White keeps this list on hand, so he has options to explore with clients who have no idea what they want to do.

Video Installations: Video installations can range from two to thousands of screens. These installations are easily configurable, usually offer the best resolution and have the power to transform ordinary spaces into engaging experiences. Video installations tend to be content heavy, and can also be interactive.

Video Mapping: When the element of surprise is needed, it’s a versatile and portable technique that can adapt to any surface. Ideal when working with buildings or a custom stage. Video mapping can be interactive, and is usually animation heavy.

Augmented Reality: Augmented reality is used when you want to add an existing environment. Participants see the room they’re in while experiencing some altered form of reality – a digital overlay to their environment. This tends to be animation heavy.

Interactive: This is a broad category, as interactive installations can be small or large, and can be displayed in any media format.

Virtual Reality (VR): To be considered VR, participants need to be fully immersed and usually need to wear a headset to achieve this. The full immersion into an alternate reality is what differentiates VR from augmented reality.

Holographic Installations: When you want to bring animated objects into the real world, holographic techniques are used. Most often seen in concerts, holographic installations are very expensive to pull off. They are always animation heavy, and can be interactive as well.

Immersive Environments: Often created with a projection or a screen, immersive environments are most commonly seen at marketing events. A great technique to captivate your audience’s attention.

Conclusion

I discovered after doing some preliminary investigation that I was drawn to experience. By experience, I meant to refer to the chance I have to create experiences through my work and to design for them. In layman's words, I would like to present an experience that uses physically built interactive technology that participants may interact with. The goal would then be for the interactive features, graphics, or storyline of my exhibit, or the prototype itself, to elicit strong feelings in the viewer. I created images for this page using the new firefly Adobe AI, with the purpose of instilling some emotions and sentiments in my viewers. For me, it arouses curiosity, imagination, and inspiration. The research I need to do is what is keeping me from moving forward. "What can I research on this topic?" was a frequent concern for me.