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Trapped in Suburbia - curators www.trappedinsuburbia.nl

ONE WEEK ABOUT Experience Design

By 03-08-2015

Introducing Trapped in Suburbia. We are a 13-years-young design bureau which, from a graphic base, focuses especially on designing experiences. The three members of the team have all undertaken qualified training in graphic design and share an interest in interaction, moving image, spatial objects, tactility and particularly people.

How do people experience your designs and how can you challenge them to cross a border? When does your design change a somewhat uncomfortable situation into a pleasant one? How can you bring about changes with your design? We believe that a story in the form of an experience is really felt very strongly. That’s when the penny really drops. A quote from Confucius links up perfectly with this: “Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.”

This is Experience Design
After having worked intensively with this theme for the past 7 years, the time had come for us to capture it in a publication: ‘This is Experience Design’. The cover contains two vinyl LPs on which we tell the stories behind our projects. The book interior covers 156 pages with almost exclusively images; the reader is involved in the book through listening and at the same time browsing through the book.

Graphic design is different from when we started and that’s how it should be. Changes are essential for the creative process and the biggest challenge is to continue renewing yourselves, to be open and to continue learning. In a time when everything is volatile, when the one trend is following the other at lightning speed, and every hipster or shopping street is looking the same worldwide, everyone is looking for a form of value. A form of deepening. You won’t find this in matter. Deepening is in your mind, your memories, in sharing with others, in the adventures you experience, the things you learn in life, the experiences you undergo. An experience is something that will stay in your memory forever. Of course, not every experience will have the same impact, but that is exactly where the challenge for a designer lies.

Therefore, we will not fill the issues of this week’s One Week About with traditional graphic design but with inspiring examples of what we see as experience design. Although all examples do have a graphic pillar in the form of the branding, this is not the most important part of it. One project is moving towards product design, another one is more of a business model. But all of them challenge the user, make him think and bring about large or small changes.

In the coming year we will begin with the second part of the book, which will have the working title ‘This is Experience Design two’. This edition will explore the current status of experience design in the Dutch design landscape. If you feel urged by our posts to make a contribution, you’re welcome to send an email to: info@trappedinsuburbia.nl