Hooked on a Feeling

What other mediums tell us about what it means to craft an experience.
For all of the hype around “user experience” it often feels like we struggle with what it means to actually craft an experience.

We build and ship products that are perfectly fine. We make things that are usable, attractive, responsive, reliable and whatever else has come to be expected. And yet, there’s something missing. Something intangible.

It’s not obvious what’s missing, until we contrast our own work against other mediums more established than our own: Film. Game design. Storytelling. Advertising… These mediums know how to make us feel, in deep and profound ways. So how do we do the same? Are there processes we can change, or things we can do to create memorable and meaningful experiences? And who has reached this level of emotional engagement?

In this session, Stephen P. Anderson explores the subtle, but critical ways we can level up our work, bringing a depth and richness to the experiences we shape.