Xperience This!

Seven (7) tips to help you ensure your business and customers are getting demonstrably valuable designs from your agency

No doubt you are aware of programs that were elegant, motivating experiences for their target audiences and returned compelling business results. The question is how can you ensure that the work your agencies are doing for you will result in such experiences? Do you know what good looks like when you’re watching it develop? 

If you’re not even thinking to ask that question, then here’s

Tip #1: Ask it

After all, something about this headline intrigued you, right? Whatever industry you work in, you have the responsibility to question what it is your agencies are creating and why. And not just questions like, “Are you using the right treatment of the logo?” Rather bottom line questions like, “Will I ever see a quantifiable or qualifiable benefit of that $80,000 Flash video you suggested we put on our site?” or “That 55-e-mail communication stream…how will we know it is working for us?”

Some agencies are questioning themselves. Take David Berkowitz and his Inside the Marketer’s Studio blog where he recently ‘atoned’ for sins on behalf of marketers and agencies. Included among his confessions was, “We have killed ideas that were spot on in favor of pet projects that we wanted for our portfolios.” If you’re not lucky enough to be working with an agency that has developed this level of self-awareness and self-evaluation, I’ve provided some tried and true tips for ensuring your agency is gives you good design. More »

So I’m a little late jumping onto the New Year prediction band wagon.  And maybe I cheated a little because my prediction is actually based on what’s already happened in the first couple of weeks of the year. Nevertheless, you heard it here first – 2010 is the Year of the Experience.  This will be the year where Experience Design (XD) becomes widely understood and embraced as a competitive advantage for businesses.  The evidence: Domino’s Pizza’s new ad campaign and Steve Kroft ’s January 10th 60 Minutes story about a multi-billion dollar border security project gone bad. More »

Self promotion is not the intent of this blog, but this accomplishment is notable for a couple of reasons we think our current and prospective clients might find interesting.  What is especially noteworthy about this accomplishment is that ours was an AZ Technology/IS-sponsored study that ended up receiving recognition from the business for the value of its Commercial Insights. Some quick background…

Astra Zeneca presents its Accoladez awards every year to brand teams and partners who produce work that provides the biggest breakthrough in how to communicate about a brand or to address a difficult brand challenge. It recognizes a key finding in market research as well as a unique methodology used to uncover a transformational insight regarding customer behavior.  Accoladez is highly coveted among the Brand teams and the competition is quite fierce.

Our Experience Design group recently won finalist status in the category of Commercial Insight for the Physician Experience Research Study we completed in early 2009.  Our work was recognized because it provided the basis and firsthand validation of what Primary Care and GI Specialists were looking for from the Digital channel, both from a preference and behavioral standpoint.

The study sought to understand how physicians use the digital space in the context of treating their patients. It included detailed 1:1 interviews with over 50 physicians in two cities – the highlight of the research was the “day in the life” diaries we asked physicians to complete to track their digital activities. The goal was to get at what physicians’ digital behaviors REALLY are versus what they claim they are in self-reported surveys or large-scale reports. We wanted to answer the “how” and “why” of physician behavior, not solely the “what.” The insights we gathered helped AZ stakeholders both in digital and traditional channels prioritize communications and tactics.

We think this recognition speaks volumes about the value of having a non-agency with no agenda to push for any particular marketing communications tactics doing this type of research. It frees the partnering vendor to call it as they see it and focus on creating value for the client.

You can see our case study for this project here.

Back in April, several colleagues and I entered a competition by the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Design Trust for Public Space that challenged entrants to envision the future of the Grand Concourse, a boulevard in the Bronx whose grandeur has suffered in recent decades. It was a design competition, so the vast majority of contestants were architects, landscape architects, and city planners. Being experience architects, we were the filly running against the stallions – a long shot to say the least. Two months later, our proposal was selected from over 400 entries from 25 countries as one of seven (7) finalists whose designs are now on display for the fall season at the museum.

Why did our unorthodox entry resonate with the judges? Because we were the only entrants who, instead of immediately diving into a design solution to answer the question, “What should be done to revitalize the Concourse?” considered the most appropriate approach to be the one we would apply to any experience design challenge – ask the audience.

The results of our research are on display at the museum. You can also see facsimiles of some of the deliverables by going to the case study on our website. What I’d like to share here are some of the things we found important when applying basic experience design research principles to this particular challenge. More »

Kathleen Fourte (MISI XD group EA) and I attended the Food & Drug Administration’s Public Hearing on the Promotion of Medical Products using the Internet and Social Media Tools.  MISI had insights to share from countless contextual inquiries and usability tests with patients, caregivers, and physicians (both primary care and specialists).  We wanted to demonstrate how these people’s needs and perceptions shape the experiences they seek when they interact using social media tools. We further wanted to note how core experience design principles can help address questions being asked regarding how pharmaceutical companies should handle key information when interacting with their audiences in the social media space.  More »