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Experience by Design

Adam Gamwell, Gary David

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This is experience by design, a podcast that brings new perspectives to the experiences we have everyday. Does standing in line always have to suck? Why are airports so uncomfortable? What does it mean to be loyal to a brand? Why do you love being connected but dislike feeling tethered to your smart phone? Can we train people to care about the climate? Join Sociologist Gary David and Anthropologist Adam Gamwell on an expedition to the frontiers of culture and business through the lens of hum ...
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One of the reasons that I originally went into sociology, and doing ethnographic research, is learning about people’s stories. We are a species that likes stories, and likes hearing about people’s stories. I think this is why “human of New York” is as popular as it is. People have their stories rooted in their lives and experiences. And when it com…
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I miss my gas stove. I used to have one in a home I first lived in after moving to Massachusetts. There was something about the click-click-click and then the spark of the flame. Being able to see it and adjust it accordingly based on how much heat I wanted to generate for whatever I was cooking. It felt magically. Come to think about it, my love f…
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Being creative ain’t easy. There is something about putting yourself into your work that can be hugely rewarding, but also massively exhausting. Doing something without putting your heart and soul into it can come with its own drawbacks, but at the end of the day the results of your work are not tied directly into how you see yourself. For people w…
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I never expected the term “branding” or “brand” to be part of my lexicon, but here we are in 2025 where it seems that “branding yourself” and “what is your brand” are common concepts to discuss. Trying to figure out which version of me will “land” or resonate with not just my “audience”, but anyone. Iconic brands are something that seem to last for…
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The New Year is a great time to reflect on our past, and to think about what we want to accomplish in the upcoming year. After all, it is the season of the Annual Performance Review! Whether in our personal or professional lives, it can be hard to identify what is important in terms of our evaluations. How do we know if we are making progress towar…
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One of the ways that I describe experience design, and more specifically for the purposes of this episode customer experience, is by asking people to imagine the worst customer experience that they have had. And unfortunately for all of us, there are a lot of them. It is probably easy to remember the bad experiences. But what about our best experie…
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Many months ago now, I had the chance to go to the WNDR Museum in Boston. If you google that, it will come categorized as a “tourist attraction.” but it is a lot more than that, especially considering that I wouldn’t classify myself as a “tourist” since I live outside of Boston. More specifically, and even importantly, WNDR is an interactive art mu…
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The original goal of those in the field of usability was pretty simple: to make products and environments that were more usable for those who were interacting with them. By looking at how to make better products, there was the potential to make life better as well. If greater profitability could be gained through these efforts, then great. At the s…
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As American troubadour Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a changin’.” I’m recording this one week after the 2024 presidential election. Without delving into the specifics of any particular outcome, one thing that is clear is there are going to be some major changes. Change can produce a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, even when there are positive…
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Today we have a fascinating discussion lined up with Alex Nathanson, a technologist, artist, and founder of Energy Transition Design LLC. In this episode, we'll explore the intricate challenges and opportunities that come with solar-powered technology, particularly solar roof tiles and the broader adoption of renewable energy solutions. Alex will s…
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When you work in academia, you come across some very smart people. This should be surprising given that academics spend an enormous amount of time exploring whatever topic they study. And people become academic experts by digging into the particulars of areas that can be pretty narrow and focused. This is the nature of academia: develop niche knowl…
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Maybe it just is the way that I am viewing the world, but it seems like everyday reveals another fresh disaster. It could be that disasters have always been with us, and now we are just more aware of them. Global news at our fingertips doesn’t necessarily help as we can tap into events that occur anywhere at any time. Even with this, it seems like …
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There is something about building something with one’s hands that seems to resonate. There is a resilience in being able to bring forth out of different parts and ingredients a thing that is whole and new. Of course, in American culture there is a deep notion of creation and springing forth from hard work, and with experience and knowledge that can…
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I never expected the word “algorithm” to play such a significant role in life and society. Growing up, I thought an algorithm was something that we would leave to math classes. The last time I took a math class to complete my undergraduate degree requirements. After that, I figured I was done with algorithms. But nope. Algorithms have been thrust b…
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When I was growing up, it was not uncommon to hear someone being told “Don’t be so sensitive.” Typically this was said when a person was being accused of reacting too strongly to some minor action. Another similar statement could be “why are you so sensitive?” Sensitive skin is referred to as being problematic and requiring special care. A sensitiv…
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There is a saying that nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. Clearly, there is a lot more certain in life, with perhaps the most important one being healthcare. Healthcare is something that we all encounter throughout our lives. Health is something that many of us may take for granted, but is always something that is in flux. We might pon…
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One of the central questions in experience design is how to not only engage the audience for whom we are designing, but also how do we best include them in the process of design. But such a statement can sound more like a platitude than an actual instruction. It is one thing to say “be inclusive”, but another to be truly inclusive. This can seem ch…
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In today’s episode of Experience by Design, we welcome Jon Cohen, an expert in transformative experience design from G&A, an experience design company. We do a deep dive into the potential risks and implications of emerging technologies, particularly the Apple Vision Pro, and its impact on distraction and deployment in various settings, including m…
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I’ve been involved in the creation and promotion of a number of athletic events, more specifically a cycling discipline called cyclocross. I’ve also participated in my fair share of events, from local road running races to Ironman and the Boston Marathon. I like to think that I have a decent understanding on the design of sporting events from the p…
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The field of education and learning is shifting in a lot of ways. Some of this is related to the new technologies, and the opportunities that are created through them. At the same time, we can see the duplication of traditional approaches through new technologies. Afterall, what does PowerPoint really accomplish if all we do is just put our lecture…
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One of the things that we know as social scientists is that people need connection. It is not that we want connection, or would prefer connection, but that we need it to be part of our lives. Some of the foundational figures in sociology were all concerned with the onset of isolation and disconnection that came with industrial society. Durkheim loo…
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The home buying process is not great. And while it might not ever be great, it should be better than it is. While home may or may not be where the heart is, the home is definitely where the stress starts. The whole venture of buying a home is a pain from start to finish. Anyone who has been through this knows what I’m talking about. The financing, …
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There is the old saying that ‘necessity is the mother of invention.’ This could be the slogan for education in the pandemic world. All educators were thrust into a situation that many vowed they would never do: teach online. But what could we do? It wasn’t like there were a lot of options. We had to make due with what we had, and hope that it worke…
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Here on Experience by Design, we like to think we are experts, or at least pretty knowledgeable, about the concept of culture. A couple of PhDs and training in ethnography will at least yield a working understanding of culture, as well as how it permeates all aspects of our lives. Regardless of how ubiquitous, it also is hard to nail down in terms …
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It might seem like an obvious statement, but different kinds of environments require different kinds of designs. Thinking about my kids for instance. As they got older, their tastes and interests changed, which as a result changed their room decor. One of my daughters is always seeking to ‘level up’ her room schwag, looking for design ideas to refl…
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What is business all about? Is it about profit? Or people? Or both? Another question we can ask is why is there the belief that if you are profitable, then you cannot be people focused, or even people concerned. Such a philosophy is going to seep into every aspect of workplace culture, creating a situation in which people are not only disconnected …
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Before, our work lives were defined by our relationship with the brands we worked for. Growing up in Detroit, a person might be a “Ford person” or a “GM person”. The same can be said for those who worked for Mary Kay or Tupperware. Through our association with the brand, we gained a sense of self that was enriched by that association. Today, people…
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It is not like we need a building in which to teach. Thinking back to Socrates, he was conducting his teaching in an open-air market, influencing younger generations to the point where he was forced to drink hemlock. At the same, a good educational structure can help. I have taught in a variety of environments, and have seen educational technology …
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While technology may make it seem like we are constantly connected, the truth is that in many ways we have never been more disconnected from one another. The same devices that can bring the world to our fingertips can at the same time drive a barrier in between real moments of authentic connection. In many ways, this divorces us from ourselves rega…
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Much of our lives, especially in organizations, is governed by process. In fact, organizations can be evaluated based on how mature their processes are. Technological systems are set up to implement processes that employees are supposed to follow. At the same time, process can be a killer of innovation. When we are wedded to processes, we can lose …
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When I was growing up, I used to hear a lot of commercials for a group called The Starving Artists Group. The ad would talk about how you could go to a local mall and get paintings and other art work really cheap, because after all the artists were starving and apparently desperate to find food. It also was not a good ad for going into the arts. Af…
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We’ve all heard the saying that change is hard, but it is more than that. Change is not only hard, but can be threatening, as well as inevitable. Change is something that takes place naturally, and is impossible to stop. When things change around us and we fail to change with it, then what was once familiar can now feel foreign. While before we mig…
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Gary was part of the first generation to have home video games, and can still remember his Odyssey game console while everyone else was getting an Atari. You might say that left a mark. But he also remembers the fun that you could have just by sitting in front of the television, or computer, and playing some video games. As the games evolved, so di…
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Good health is one of the things that we value as most important in our lives. When other tragedies strike, people often will remark that at least they have their health. And even when all other things are going well, being in poor health (even momentarily with a minor illness) can completely through us out of balance. But despite the importance of…
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Anyone who is in education knows the challenge that exists when we are trying to deliver content that connects with students. It can be hard to remember that the material that exists us might not be that exciting for the students. Although, I do find it hard to imagine that sociological theory isn’t fascinating for everyone. At the same time, there…
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The idea of pleasing customers goes back as far as the beginnings of human history. A 3,800 year old clay tablet with cuneiform writing from the city of UR is perhaps our evidence of customer complaints. A man named Nanni complained about the quality of copper he received to Ea-Nasir, along with issues with subsequent delays. A quote from the table…
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In today’s data saturated world, businesses are looking for ways to cut through the noise, and consumers are looking to feel seen and heard. Tools and techniques from the social sciences like Anthropology and Sociology can help organizations thrive in today's complex world by focusing on people’s lived experience in context. Learning to see connect…
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Designing for an international audience can provide challenges to the experience designer. If we are going to design with the cultural norms and expectations in mind, how do we handle when the number of cultures we are catering to seems to always increase? This also is a major challenge when living in a multicultural society where we have people fr…
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In a media environment where we are beset on all sides by messages, it can be hard to connect with your audiences. More challenging still is educating and impacting. We are all familiar with ads on television for different medications, from restless leg syndrome to depression to atrial fibrillation to skin problems to Wilfred Brimley “diabetus” adv…
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One of the lessons of the pandemic is raising the relevance of the workplace as a physical location in which people come together to accomplish their tasks. There are numerous stories of empty locations and attempts by employers to bring people back. Some of these attempts involve enticements, while others involve threats. Both speak to the growing…
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In experience design, there is design thinking, design doing, and design strategizing. Seldom do all three things come together in one package. This clearly presents a problem. Thinking isn’t enough without the doing. And doing isn’t enough without a strategy for what we are doing and why we are doing it. How to tie these things together becomes no…
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One of the most enjoyable aspects of being an experience designer, or a designer of any kind, is the opportunity to make unexpected connections in order to deliver new experiences. Often this starts in our backgrounds of study. Because there are so few programs targeted in experience design, the majority of designers combine their educational backg…
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One of the fascinating things about doing experience design is the innumerable ways in which we can apply our understanding and work. While we might talk about silos such as customer, user, employee, patient, and the like, it always comes down to people. Or, some might say, humans. And it is not just that we are dealing with humans in our design, b…
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Anyone who has been involved in education knows that education ain’t easy. It can be tricky and challenging to figure out how best to learn, integrate, and distill information to an audience. From the days of Socrates in the Agora and even before, the challenge of reaching learning with information that connects and educates has existed. The emerge…
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When confronted with all of the wicked problems that we are facing as a country, global community, and species, it can all seem pretty hopeless. The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass famously said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and never will.” When looking at the challenge…
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As social scientists in sociology and anthropology, we are well-versed in the examination of business as a source of disruption in society. The privileging of profits over people, the extraction of resources for the benefit of shareholders, question ethics and legality rationalized as a necessary evil. Especially looking at the slash-and-burn era o…
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The field of leadership coaching has been expanding with many different types of offerings provided by just as many different approaches. And it is hard to say that it is not needed. People in management positions can be beset on all sides by demands and limitations, making even thinking about leadership just another thing to add onto an already pa…
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In many ways, Experience Design is a new field of work in terms of how it has become focused on and prioritized in companies and across sectors. In other ways, there is nothing new about it at its core. Experiences have been designed and delivered throughout human history. Perhaps what is most different about today is the awareness and intentionall…
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We might have all heard that curiosity killed the cat. But as with all stories, the reality of that statement is a bit more complicated. It turns out that the initial version of that phrase referred to how excessive worry or concern for others killed the cat, and that is a concept we can all relate to. Curiosity, on the other hand, did not cause ha…
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