4 Days at Hyper Island
What and where the hell is Hyper Island? It sounds like a Berlin Rave Party but is in fact far from that. It sounds like a Berlin Rave Party but it stimulates your mind more organically.
Hyper Island is sometimes referred to as “The Digital Harvard”…
…and CNN has listed it as one of the “most interesting schools around the world.” Founded in Sweden, it is a creative business school, specializing in real-world industry training using digital technology.
Having a special interest in Experience Design, and even interviewing Hyper Island’s Catherine McHenry for my Master Thesis, I’d been longing to get real insight into the Hyper Island approach and way of working.
On the course website, HI wrote that the course offers “an opportunity to deep dive into the process of creating meaningful experiences both online and offline.” In other words the course would dovetail perfectly with my understanding of the purpose of Experience Design: Creating a more holistic experience for a user, stretching the experience from pure interaction with digital interfaces to include the product, service and company.
After 4 days of full hands-on experience I think the course can best be summarized with the team photo above. Our group had a diversity of professional backgrounds but a shared passion to bring Experience Design one step further from a theoretical idea to creating meaningful and holistic consumer experiences.
My Personal Learning Curve
Reflecting back upon the overall course experience, I realized my changing satisfaction followed the exponential curve described by Dr. Eddie Obeng’s anxiety gap. Usually applied for managing expectations with the client, it can be aptly applied to describe my anxiety throughout the 4 days. I started solidly with an aligned perspective of Experience Design, but slowed down with the disappointment of the day-to-day learning with specific regard to Experience Design in which I already have a substantial understanding. It was at the end, upon reflection of that journey as a whole, that I realized the true underlying value of the course: the passionate people I met and the future of Experience Design that is lying in front of us.
Day 1
The primary focus of the first day was to get to know the 30 other participants. Gill (designer) and Maria (facilitator) did an awesome job in connecting us. They used all sorts of small group exercises (e.g.: Stinky Fish) and tasks to provide opportunities for us to exchange our thoughts about Experience Design (which you can find in the Hyper Island Toolkit).
Gill Wildman gave us an introduction to Experience Design, mentioning one of the most iconic books by Pine & Gilmore — The Experience Economy — which reassured me that this course is going to go beyond simply using digital interfaces in consumer experience. Similar to the introduction exercises, we often got split up in smaller teams to discuss and work more efficiently. We usually then shared key insights from the small teams with the rest of the group.
After the lunch break, Tom Metcalfe presented us with good examples of what Experience Design is and can be. This not only gave the theoretical-heavy course a bit more practical character, but also illustrated how diverse Experience Design can look like in execution. (I would love to share some of these examples in more depth in the next blog posts.)
Key Learnings from day 1:
In its first era, Design was seen as a problem solver; it has now moved to the second era where it is a creator of meaningful experiences. This especially holds true in light of the move from broadcast to dialog. It was around 2004 that people started seeing that there is something more then just brand and services; they got tired of passive consumption. It was around this time that Don Norman coined the term User Experience Design. “I invented the term because I thought human interface and usability were too narrow,” he said. “I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with the system including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction and the manual.” Experience can be many things: a structure, a reflection, be shared and subjective.
Day 2
The second day of the course — as well as every subsequent day — started off with personal reflection and “check-in,” the latter consisting of stepping into a middle of the circled group and sharing one’s reflections aloud. This was especially interesting as everybody had the chance to express their doubts, fears, joy, hopes, etc. with the rest of the group.
Gill presented a variety of design tools and brought a lot of them in for us to test out in person. While I had already been familiar with many of them, I hadn’t previously been able to try them all.
After our lunch break we used prototyping in two different ways: first as a creative tool, using newspaper to visualize our assigned topic, and then as a physical brainstorming exercise, creating a prototype from a mix of materials and electronics (Little Bits). This was especially interesting as I had never used prototyping as a sense making group tool.
Key Learnings from day 2:
Prototyping is a powerful tool to test out ideas at an early stage and align and concretize ideas within the team; it is also useful for including the client at an early stage (and thereby closing the anxiety gap). The advantage of early prototyping can be quantified with a rough estimation of prototyping being 10x cheaper now then at the next stage of the process.
Maria presented us the Learning Spiral which Hyper Island is applying in their courses. This spiral starts off with doing something, then reflecting upon it, then generalizing the learning, and finally applying it. This sequence is then repeated.
Day 2 was my lowest day as expectation and reality were inevitably drifting apart. I felt like I already knew everything presented to me and that the course could have alternatively been called Design Process Lab or purely Design Lab — I was missing the Experience Design focus. However, I was hopeful that Day 3 would deliver with Joe Macleod’s presentation.
Day 3
Once again the day started of with intensive self-reflection and group sharing.
We quickly came to the highlight of the the course. Joe Macleod presented his concept of Closure Experiences. To use his own words, “It aims to highlight the issues that arise when we fail to close customer relationships in an adequate manner.” He very nicely related his theoretical concept to factual best- and worst-case examples. He also walked us through two exercises, which we all tried out together (The Swap Shop Transaction Model & Dating Yourself).
In the open session Maria presented us the Integrative Model of Group Development by Dr. Susan Wheelan. IMGD is a great tool to analyze group dynamics.
Day 4
The last day was the presentation of our “directions” for the client Skyscanner. My team intentionally decided to use the term directions instead of solutions or services to release us from the pressure of delivering a finished product. Instead we focused on making most out of the course and trying new methods.
The presentations from all the teams were so creative, both in concept as well as presentation format vise.
After a happy client said goodbye, we were asked to give each other personal feedback within our teams.(“What I appreciated most about you is…” and “What I would like to see more of…”). This was especially hard and pleasant at the same time.
Reflecting about the Experience Design Lab by HyperIsland:
First and foremost it was great witnessing HI’s way of working and some of their methods. Additionally, the workshop was perfectly planned and managed throughout by Gill and Maria — from the getting-to-know-you exercises to the energizing of the group dynamics to the delicious lunches in the sunshine.
My expectation was to solidify my understanding of Experience Design and receive hands-on tools to balance my theoretical background. But what I really got was the opportunity to connect with thirty amazing people who share the same passion and dedication to furthering the discipline of Experience Design. Every participant was added valuable insight to the discussion of applying Experience Design to our daily work.Though the course was only four days, I hope we can keep our discussion alive through various other channels.
The understanding of Experience Design is relatively young and involving. And at the forefront are a talented team of passionate and impactful individuals. That is my greatest take away from Hyper Island’s Experience Design Lab.
Book recommendations:
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
- Designing as reflective conversation with the materials of a design situation by Donald A. Schon
Links:
- “digital harvard” http://www.psfk.com/2011/04/the-digital-harvard-stats-behind-hyper-islands-success-video.html
- “most interesting schools around the world” http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/13/business/new-schools-life-lessons/
- Experience Design Lab https://www.hyperisland.com/programs-and-courses/experience-design-lab
- Hyper Island Toolkit: http://toolbox.hyperisland.com
