The keynote presentation on Friday night was fantastic and full of information. Steve Diler, one of the authors of Making Meaning, presented a brief overview of the application of meaningful thinking as it relates to consumer products and experiences. It was an extremely fascinating exploration into the use of a designed, meaningful experience. Some of his presentation tied back into the panel discussion held earlier, mainly the concepts relating to the application of meaning to the business industry.
From the slide photographed above, one might ask what exactly an experience is and what kind of methods can be used to have one. Steve explained that there are several different types of experiences when it comes to meaning. Some of those are: Economic, Functional, Emotional, Status, and a Meaningful Experience. To the point of the slide above, competing solely on the basis of a functional experience would be extremely difficult, as everyone has it. In order to truly separate an offering, or product, one must have a meaningful experience. This kind of experience does have an inherent lack of control, where the end user can interpret to their desires, but it can be designed. The potential is within the design of a meaningful experience, and where you derive the basis for the experience. Applying the results of comprehensive design research to the design of the experience could yield a very thorough competitive framework. Overall, Steve Diler’s presentation was just a tease. I, personally, felt like there was so much more that I wanted to learn about this process. Maybe I’ll have to buy his book.