Experience by Design

I just got back from the Customer Alpha event that was part of the broader FTT Embedded Finance, Payments, and Future Identity event, put on by VC Innovations. It was the first time I’ve spoken publicly about my concept of THE UN-WOW, focusing our efforts more on everyday mundane experiences rather than transformative metamorphic experiences. There is more to it than that, so stay tuned for update...

I’m off again. This weekend I’ll be heading to London for the Customer Alpha event , where I’ll be delivering the keynote for the conference. “Customer Alpha is a leading customer experience event bringing together a cross-industry community of professionals who never stop striving to better understand and deliver for customers.” How cool is that! I’m excited to be there, and talking about my conc...

This last week of being back from Florence has given me a chance to reflect a bit on he experience of not just being in a foreign country, but being in a completely different kind of physical environment. By that I mean, the city of Florence, or more specifically a city where I was walking everywhere. The origins of Florence date back to around 59 BCE. From that time, the city has continuously gro...

I am back from my trip to Florence, and am covered in history. It is impossible to go to Florence and not be. Unless you are a college student who is doing study abroad and only know about Rafael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and movie. It was kind of crazy to be able to walk around and casually see works of art from the 1300s. It is easy to s...

By the time that you are listening to this, I should be in Florence, Italy visiting my daughter who is studying abroad. I’ve never been to Italy, and by extension of that I’ve never been to Florence, so there is going to be a lot to experience while there. Hopefully there will be some fun tales to tell afterwards! Having stories to tell is different from being able to tell stories. It is an art to...

I don’t know about you, but I find the cereal aisle to be a pretty wondrous place.  We’re all probably pretty used to it, but just imagine the cereal aisle from the perspective of a person who has never seen it before. It’s a lot. I mean, how do you pick a cereal when you don’t know what each of them has to offer.  Of course, this is where marketing comes in.  Marketing is that thing that tries to...

I have long taken an interest in, and even done research on, this idea of “labor-saving technology.” Maybe it is because I had a front-row seat to a lot of the technological transformations that we now pretty much take for granted.  In ninth grade, I had a typing class on fully manual typewriters, the kind where the keys would jam and you had to whack the return bar. Good times. The next year, the...

It was quite the weekend for Nordic skiing in the United States. The World Cup visited Lake Placid, NY, and I was there along with 14,000 plus other spectators to take it all in. We saw some of the biggest names in cross-country skiing take to the line and race in the snow and even in the rain. As an avid Nordic skier, it was awesome to see it all happen in a location that I have skied (although a...

Well we did it, folks! Experience by Design podcast has hit 25,000 downloads. I don’t know what all that means in real terms other than a lot of you like to listen to this on a regular basis. First, that’s a testament to the great guests who spend their time talking with me about their lives and their work. Second, it is a testament to you for being interested in these stories and the field of exp...

You probably know that there are a lot of podcasts out there to listen to. By one estimate, as of January 2026 there are 4.58 million podcasts. That’s a lot of people churning out content that runs the gamut of topics and guests. If you look at the podcast stats, you also will see that nearly one-third of podcasts are 20-40 minutes in length.  Which makes Experience by Design stand out in a somewh...

Once again, we are living in a time of military conflict. It seems like it is something that is inescapable, which is enough to make one who wishes for better to lose hope that it is possible. It can start to feel pretty overwhelming given the amount of suffering that continues to go on without reprieve.  This once again introduces the central importance of dispute and conflict resolution in our l...

The 2026 Winter Olympics are now over, and it was great to watch. As always, there are a lot of compelling stories that happened. There are stories of triumph and disappointment, as it goes with sports. It is hard to imagine putting so many years of your life into something to have it all turn on minutes or seconds.  There were a lot of athletes that were projected to win gold, including Jessie Di...

Although I often describe myself as a sociologist, my academic foundation began with psychology—I completed a dual major in psychology and sociology. One of the courses that most shaped my early thinking was Industrial/Organizational Psychology. At the time, I struggled with what felt like a top‑down, management‑centric approach. I even recall asking the professor whether the field existed mainly...

If you’re a sports fan, a winter fan, or an Olympics fan, this is a great time of year. I’ve been watching the Olympics—especially the Nordic skiing events, since cross‑country skiing is one of the activities I really enjoy. The United States has had some impressive results, including Ben Ogden winning a silver medal, Jessie Diggins earning a bronze, and several other standout performances. It’s i...

One of the challenges of getting older—especially for men—is meeting people and forming new friendships. Social connection is a fundamental human need, yet the demands of work, responsibilities, and constant distractions make it difficult to create the time and space for meaningful relationships. A recent Pew study found that men and women report loneliness at similar rates. However, women are mor...

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending an RV Expo in Worcester Massachusetts. I’m not looking for an RV, but am generally RV curious. I find the concept of an RV pretty interesting, and I have to say that walking about the expo revealed the range of designs that exist in the RV market. Different sizes, different features, slide outs, Fifth wheels, hitches, toy haulers, so much to take...

We are living through an unmistakably accelerated era of technological transformation. History shows that periods like this often reshape not only how organizations operate but also how individuals relate to one another and engage with the world. Looking back, the impact of major technological shifts seems obvious. But living through them is far more complex. On any given day, headlines announce C...

I think we can still technically say we are in the midst of the new year even though we are two weeks into it. I don’t know if there is a statute of limitations on how long you can wish another person a happy new year, since also technically it is the new year until the next new year at which point this new year will become the old year.  One of the things that is meant to last throughout the new...

Designing Holidays—and Environments —that Heal, Not Harm As the holiday season winds down, many of us breathe a sigh of relief. The decorations are packed away, the music fades, and the whirlwind of expenses and obligations comes to an end. Yet, for many, the aftermath brings its own stress—credit card bills, fatigue, and even emotional strain. The truth is, the holiday experience can carry its ow...

Happy New Year’s everyone! New Year is the time of year when we build unrealistic expectations about what the huge celebration we should be part of, and what big changes we are going to make in the form of our resolutions. It is a lot to live up to, and can create a lot of pressure. All of which is why I don’t like New Year’s.  To be honest, I feel like our run of holidays go steadily downhill sta...

Happy holidays once again! This is being aired the day after Christmas, or on Boxing Day for those who are in places that do a thing called Boxing Day. I guess it has something to do with giving boxes, or having boxes, or maybe relatives boxing one another after spending time together over the holidays. Whatever it is, hope you have a happy one.  The actual origins, according to Wikipedia, seems t...

Happy holidays, everyone! I’m recording this intro a week early because I’m away right now, trying to enjoy a little downtime. Knowing we have an international audience, I hope that wherever you are, you’re finding joy in whatever you’re doing. And if you’re celebrating a holiday, may your celebrations be truly joyful. Of course, the holidays can also bring their share of conflict—often around sho...

The most enjoyable part of doing the podcast is talking to a wide range of people who, regardless of their industry or role, share a common goal: making things better . At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. Sometimes we make things better by selling something people need. Other times, it’s by teaching them something new, creating an art installation that moves them, designing a workpl...

As listeners would have heard previously, I attended a FinTech event which got me thinking about financial literacy and financial experiences. I’ve started to write some thoughts down related to that which I am posting on my Substack. You can find that at https://garycdavid.substack.com/ .  This post was about financial literacy as financial inclusion, and how knowledge is power especially in rela...

For those listeners in the United States, a Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Thanks for being part of Experience by Design podcast and making putting on the show worthwhile and rewarding. And for those of you in Canada, Happy Belated Thanksgiving. And for those in other parts of the world, I hope you can take a moment to give thanks for whatever you feel thankful. Giving thanks is not just something...