Experience by Design

Growing up before the advent of cable television, we had three stations to choose from. Well, four stations if you counted PBS (and no one really counted PBS). In Detroit, we were lucky because we also got CBC from Canada. Beyond that, pickings were slim for a kid who wanted to spend time in front of the television.  Saturday mornings were of course the difference maker. You could get cartoon...

This semester, I’ve been teaching a class that originally was called Internationalization and World-Ready Product Design. The class stands in a long line of academic tradition of having really long names that are hard to remember. Despite that, the class has been a fun exploration of culture, technology, inclusion, ethics, and design aesthetics. One of the themes that we keep hitting on, and my gu...

There are a lot of aspects of my job that I enjoy. Perhaps the most enjoyable is helping students prepare for a fulfilling life where they can find a professional and personal path that will work for them. Not that we as professors can be fully responsible for that. But I think all professors see themselves as Robin Williams either in Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society . We want to reach our...

I am just back from being at Customer Contact Week in Nashville, where I was lucky enough to be a keynote speaker. In one of those moments that I’ll likely never repeat, I was on the Country Music Hall of Fame stage. I even got to use the Vince Gill waiting room before going on stage. It was all very cool, and a lot of fun to be where many famous artists have been before me. I hope I did them prou...

There has been a lot in the news about fraternities of late, which made me think about my time in a fraternity. When I was pledging as a college first-semester freshman, I had the “privilege” of being pledge class president. I should probably put that on my LinkedIn profile now that I think of it. But “leading” is different from rank. I had the same experience from being the Chair of my academic d...

I guess now that it is autumn and nearly October, it’s time to start preparing for the upcoming holiday. And by that I mean of course Christmas, and not Halloween. Tis the season! That is, if the season ever really ends. Honestly, if we mark the Christmas season as starting when stores bring the decorations out and Mariah Carey belts out over the store speakers, the Christmas season has already st...

With the marketing pre-launch of my book “The UN-WOW,” I have had more attempts at social media engagement than I ever thought (or wanted to be) possible. It has been an ongoing process of creating content, posting content, and waiting for people to notice the content. In doing so, I have noticed a lot of other people doing the same things. Create, post, wait, and then hopefully engage with an ‘au...

Going to high school in the 1980s, there was a strong emphasis on the idea of going to college in order to enter a white-collar career. This was seen as the epitome of success. Even though I was in Metropolitan Detroit, the focus still was not on skilled trades and manufacturing. “Shop” classes and programs were thought to be for those kids who couldn’t handle the academic rigors of a college prep...

Well the semester has started and the summer is officially over, sad to say. It has been a pretty active summer overall, as I have been describing in relation to my manuscript “The UN-WOW.” Not only writing that, but also marketing it and getting financial support for its publication. Again, thanks to you who have given, and to those who are going to give. I can’t do this without your help, and an...

I have been talking quite a bit about this concept of The UN-WOW, a call to focus more of our attention on the everyday experiences that make up the bulk of our lives. Just because they are everyday and mundane doesn’t mean they can’t be designed with intentionality. It also means if everything is an experience, that means as experience designers, every moment is open for design. Or in other words...

When you are doing a PhD dissertation, or writing a book, or working on some major project that takes a lot of your time, attention, and emotional energy, there is a tendency to start to resent that thing. I guess it is a natural outcome of all that investment. While I may have resented the dissertation process, I never really resented my dissertation topic because it focused on the ways in which...

Where has the summer gone? Hard to believe we are staring at back-to-school in the face. I’m just wrapping up my summer course on Employee Experience, and it was great to see the students produce projects that really embrace the value of employees in organizations. Hopefully some of their ideas can be implemented in actual organizations, because I do believe that they can make a difference by putt...

I just had the pleasure of traveling to New Orleans to take in the art, music, museums, and culture that the city has to offer. And trust me, it has a lot to offer. A city that old and with so much history has so much to offer on so many levels that it would take a lifetime to explore, let alone even attempt to understand.  During my trip, I chatted with a lot of people who were from there or move...

This past weekend, I had the distinct displeasure of participating in an event called “The Muddy Dash,” put on by the company EventLab. I used to put on bike race events, and I have participated in I don’t know how many athletic events. Without a doubt, this was by far the absolute worst experience in almost every way from an event planning standpoint. Way too many participants for the venue, resu...

As I have been working on my book “The UN-WOW,” I’ve been talking to a lot of people in experience design and experience management about whether or not my idea for the book makes sense. Two things have emerged from these conversations. First, people generally are very supportive of the principles behind The UN-WOW. It seems that people see a lot of opportunity in exploring more mundane aspects of...

I’m back from my vacation with the kids, which we took in Lake Placid, New York. For those of you with kids, you know that vacation with kids is never really a relaxing time. It is more of a relocation, but with more spending and trying to keep people entertained. Despite those challenges, I had a good time, even though I feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Instead of getting...

I’m recording this episode a week early as I’m on vacation with my family up in Lake Placid, New York, a beautiful spot that we have been going to for close to 20 years. One of the nice things about going to a familiar place is all the constants that are there. Things like Mirror Lake, the Olympic Oval, the Ski Jump, the lovely High Peaks mountains. All of it is a nice reminder of past summers and...

Working from home over the summer, primarily working on the Un-WOW book but other things as well, I get to see what passes for daytime television today. It takes me back to my childhood a little when I would be at my grandparent’s home during the summer months where they would watch me. This was in the archaic before-times, when cable television didn’t exist. Although in Detroit we were living pre...

As I have been going through this book writing journey, one of the most interesting parts has been the focus on storytelling. In academic writing, there tends to be more of a focus on a kind of sanitized relating of “facts” in a very disimpassioned way. Also, there is the verbose tendency to describe things, using many words to explain simple things.  If words equaled money, academics would be the...

If you are a long-time listener to Experience by Design, you know that I work at a business university that has its foundations as a school for training in accounting and finance. Since its founding in 1917, not much has changed in terms of that focus. We are still primarily known for our education in accounting and finance. When I first started there (almost 27 years ago now), I really had no ide...

I have some pretty exciting news to announce, and I’m glad to be doing it here first. I have completed my book manuscript, tentatively titled The Un-WOW: A Guide to Experiences Designs of All Kinds. You will notice the subtitle is taken from Experience by Design podcast, where we explore experience designs of all kinds. In the manuscript, I take a lot from guests I have talked to over the years. O...

Despite it being the summer months, I’ve started helping out with coaching Nordic skiing junior athletes who are part of a ski club. It has been a fun journey, which has included getting a coaching certification through the US Ski and Snowboard Association. Recently, I’ve been working with some athletes on a weekly training run, because after all fast skiers are made in the summer. Being back with...

I think it is part of getting older that you start to think of your past not as one singular life, but a series of lives that have culminated into wherever you are at the moment. The passage of time allows for that perspective, but I suppose a five year old is going to think in similar terms of where did the time go, it was just yesterday that I was four (which in fact, it was). We all go through...

It is indeed an exciting time to be alive. I’m not talking about AI, but OTAs, or Organized Team Activities in the National Football League. Non-contact football practices have just commenced. Our hometown heroes the New England Patriots are coming off a very successful season, which unfortunately ended in the Patriots getting shellacked by the Seattle Seahawks (so much so I stopped watching the g...

For regular listeners of Experience by Design, you’ll know that I have had a bit of travel of late. London. Florence, Italy. Even Lake Placid, New York. To be honest, I don’t like traveling. I like being places, but don’t love the process of getting there. I don’t think I’m alone in that feeling. Travel can be taxing. Being there should be enjoyable. Or some might say an experience. Hospitality is...