An overview of four elements of designing engaging cultural experiences, namely sensory immersion, emotional evocation, narrative transportation, and gameful participation. Examples of experiences that leverage these elements are cited and the relative expense of each is discussed.

1. Ed Rodley, Co-Founder & Principal
Creation. Magic. Transformation.
Designing for
Engagement in 2023
Four Elements of Innovative Experiences

2. The Challenge to Making
Engaging Experiences in 2023
§ Understanding Engagement
§ The “Magic Circle” of the Museum Visit
§ Four Elements of Engaging Experiences
§Sensory Immersion
§Emotional Evocation
§Narrative Transportation
§Gameful Participation
§ Who's doing interesting work worth following?
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3. What is “Playful Engagement”?
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It is an intrinsically motivated process where a
person directs their conscious, focused attention
to a satisfying experience, leads to the creation or
reinforcement of a memory, and influences their
behavior afterward.
It is an intrinsically motivated process where a
person directs their conscious, focused attention
to a satisfying experience, leads to the creation or
reinforcement of a memory, and influences their
behavior afterward.

4. The “Magic Circle” of
the Museum Visit
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5. The “Magic Circle” of the Museum Visit
The ”Experience”
object
visitor
alibi 5
The Magic Circle

6. Our culture
Their experience
The thing
you’re
designing
expectations reflection memory
experience
Johnanna Koljonen, Alibis for Interaction
Traditional Design vs Experience Design
Their journey

7. 4 Elements of Engaging Experiences
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Sensory
Immersion
The Sense Of
“Being There”
Emotional
Evocation
The importance of
feeling
Narrative
Transportation
Getting lost in
a good story
Gameful
Participation
Encouraging
playfulness
1 2 3 4

8. Sensory Immersion
§ Immersion triggers a shift in how we attend to our
environment which makes us more likely to
remember.
§ Immersion alone provides only a temporary boost in
memorability. Without other techniques to engage
visitors’ attention, the benefit expires quickly.
§ Immersion requires us to design not only for the
center of attention, but also the periphery of attention.
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9. Sensory Immersion
Immersion requires two environments that are
noticeably different. We are always immersed in
whatever environment we are in. Immersion is the
act of transitioning between environments and
being aware of the transition.
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10. We seek the same feeling from a
psychologically immersive experience
that we do from a plunge in the ocean or
swimming pool: the sensation of being
surrounded by a completely other reality,
as different as water is from air, that
takes over all of our attention, our whole
perceptual apparatus.
Janet Murray
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11. Emotional Evocation
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§ Emotion is an important part of cognitive
processes such as learning and memory
§ Memory of facts improves when it involves
emotionally arousing information
§ Emotion is an integral part of the decision-
making processes

12. Emotional Evocation
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Humans are not rational creatures who are also
emotional, rather we are emotional creatures who
are also able to be rational occasionally.
Emotion and memory are linked in the human
brain. Therefore, if we want visitors to have
memorable and transformative aha! moments, we
must design space for emotion.

13. “Every memory comes with an
emotional ‘stamp’ attached to it. The
stronger the emotional ‘value,’ the
more likely sensory information is to
pass this initial inspection and be
admitted into memory.”
John Falk
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14. Narrative Transportation
• Storytelling has given humans a distinct evolutionary advantage
over other animals. The listener gains the knowledge of someone
else’s experience without having lived through it.
• Our brains have evolved to treat stories like real experiences. They
become as real as things we’ve known personally, and our brains
simulate the emotions we imagine the characters might feel.
• We do more than willingly suspend disbelief in the obvious fiction
of a story; we project ourselves into the worlds of the stories, we
engage in “the active creation of belief”
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15. Storytelling is at the heart of
what museums do
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16. Narrative Transportation
Narrative is a tool humans use to explain the world
and predict the future. It is not just a recitation of
facts. It has a higher purpose: to make a point.
Learn to make your ideas into real narratives, and
they’ll be more likely to stick in visitors’ minds.
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17. All we are as humans is storytellers…
We tell stories for entertainment.
Science is merely a rigorous way of
telling stories that are hopefully true.
If they’re not, we change them to get
one that is more true.
Adam Savage
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18. Gameful Participation
§ Play is something we all do. A museum visit is a play
experience. Learn to look for opportunities to let visitors
play with the content.
§ The sense of effort being rewarded with mastery (not
necessarily victory) that comes from game play is a
powerful incentive to learn.
§ The game itself is unimportant. It is the playing that
matters.
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19. Gameful Participation
The motivation for play—enjoyment—also sits in
direct tension with adult identity. Adults therefore
require alibis, motivational accounts that shield
them from embarrassment for their play behavior,
in order to fully playfully engage.
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20. To design for meaningful play…
provide a story with meaning, a
rule system to master, and a free
space to play.
Sebastian Deterding
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21. Who's doing interesting work?
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22. MeowWolf, Santa Fe, NM
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§ Art collaborative
§ Immersive physical environments
§ Tightly integrated storytelling
throughout
§ Storyworld has clear emotional arc
§ Participatory and interactive: the
installation rewards exploration &
manipulation
§ Gracefully social experience
https://meowwolf.com/

23. Carne y Arena, touring
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§ Artist project
§ Immersive, both in physical and
virtual environments
§ Designed for an embodied
experience. Even the virtual has
physical inputs
§ Compelling storyline with intense
emotional peaks
§ Excellent interaction alibi. The
expectations are made clear and
attention is paid to both
onboarding and offboarding.
https://phi.ca/en/carne-y-arena/

24. TeamLab, Tokyo
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§ Art collaborative
§ Deeply immersive hybrid
environments with cohesive
storyworlds
§ Participatory and interactive:
they reward exploration &
manipulation
§ Inherently social experience
thanks to scale
teamLab installations © teamLab
https://www.teamlab.art/

25. Museum of Broken
Relationships, Zagreb
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§ Artist project
§ Participatory and co-creative
§ Deeply emotional – Every story
has an emotional impact.
§ Story-driven – The objects serve
as physical manifestations of
the stories behind them.
§ Digital & physical experiences
complement each other.
https://brokenships.com/

26. What Does It Take to Make?
Cost Tech need Space need Duration of exp.
Immersive
Emotional
Narrative
Gameful
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Investment needed
minimal massive

27. What are the Opportunities
for the Caribbean?
§ The growth of “experience tourism” and its drivers
(tourists are looking for different things)
§ The growth of the immersive industry
($21 Billion USD in 2021, est. $134 Billion USD in 2030!)
§ The success of artist-driven initiatives
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28. Ed Rodley, Co-Founder & Principal
Creation. Magic. Transformation.
Thank you!
Merci!
Gracias!
Bedankt!
ed@theexperiencealchemists.com
https://theexperiencealchemists.com