Tag: case studies

A New Framework and Database for Exploring Works of Experience Design

A project to organize and catalog resources to facilitate specific reference searches and discover experience design information.

Nicholas Rock
Associate Professor
Boston University

In both teaching experience design and working in a client-based practice, I have found sourcing clear case studies, examples, and references incredibly challenging and time-consuming. Recognizing the need for an accessible resource for experience design work, I have initiated a project to organize and catalog resources to facilitate specific reference searches and discover new information. The development of an introductory experience design course and my practice in design strategy provided the basis for a foundational framework. Initially designed to help teach design students, it was later adapted for my design work to enhance customer experience strategies. The framework categorizes experiences by scale, emotional response, and form to ensure a broader and more holistic understanding of experience design, benefiting designers, educators, and students.

Groups of students taking an Experience Design course utilized the framework to populate a database with more than 200 initial case studies. These case studies are a learning resource for subsequent classes, demonstrating the framework’s practical application and refinement. I additionally leveraged the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at Boston University to employ two undergraduate graphic design students in the project’s continued development, refinement, and evolution.

The result is a public database and guide for experience design—a resource that enables unexpected connections and discoveries across all forms of experience design. It helps to identify, archive, and contextualize a wide range of examples, making them accessible and valuable to future students and designers.

The work was intentionally published as a web-based resource, eventually welcoming contributions from a global community. This ensures its growth, adaptability, and continued insights on a broad scale. It has been designed to inspire curiosity and broaden perspectives of experience design and serves as a unique and ever-evolving collaborative resource for the design and design education communities.

This design research is presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 11.1: Boston University on Friday, October 25, 2024.

Submit a Case Study— Global LEAP: New Frontiers in Design for Social Innovation

The team that brought us LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation has a new project. They would like to consider your work in their upcoming project— Global LEAP: New Frontiers in Design for Social Innovation.

Award recipients of the Design Incubation Educators Awards 2019 in the category of Service—Marianna Amatullo, Jennifer May, and Andrew Shea—along with Bryan Boyer work together on this new effort to consider innovation and social impact design as a moral and philanthropic imperative across the globe.

“Our commitment is to represent a diverse overview of design practices that are shaping the field of social innovation across countries and continents. Our book will not present a singular definition of “design for social innovation,” but will instead celebrate the many heterogeneous and dynamic forms of how designers engage critical challenges in their communities, cultures, and countries.”

For details, visit their website, and consider submitting your work for consideration. They are looking for 50 design projects that have made an impact- no matter the level of scale. Find out more & submit or nominate a project at http://globalleapbook.com. Deadline is May 31!