Article Review: Interactive Experiences - Event Design Magazine / October 2008

This article is about designing interactive experiences for people who go to events and who expect to be part of the action. No longer in our culture today of the 21^st century is it desirable just to witness what's going on. Playing an active role is very important and should be given full consideration to the design of any exhibit.  The design firm Xpletive is the focus of the exposé and their explicit goal is to use media that inspires visitors to want to learn more in public spaces.

The major trend in interactive experiences in 2008 was described as "complete immersion" which is intended to encompass and transport the visitor into another dimension. What is key to this kind of event design is the skillful integration of three elements - media, interactive mechanism and an environment - that together represent how the field of interaction design is advancing.

Just like in filmmaking the essential element of "the suspension of disbelief" is vital and only possible when the experience is visually and emotionally all encompassing. For many visitors this was then the cutting edge and was already commonly found in gaming environments. Clearly this model is the best way to instantly engage and challenge a participant. Xpletive demonstrates to the reader how its implementation strategy is more cost-effective to develop these environments based on existing games and applications rather then inventing them from scratch because this can save between $50-$500,000 to the budget of the implementation, depending on the application.

Interfaces are described as evolving and getting very exciting and cool. Infrared technology is used to create hands-free interfaces - for example utilizing gloves to enable users to reach into virtual worlds. Technology is accelerating fast enough that the article states that it is not unreasonable to speculate about controlling interactions to some extent with our thoughts soon.

Newly designed interactive environments can be made to be highly immersive simply by using a small but sophisticated combination of multimedia elements. For example, with the use of well positioned monitors, night vision viewing equipment, flat-screen technologies and sense-surround audio it is possible to simulate real or construct new extraordinary environmental experiences. There can be global environmental stimuli as well as local and individually produced hand-held equipment that can personalize an experience separate from a group. The discussion about handheld devices goes beyond the usual expectations visitors may have into ideas about extending the museum experience outside the building that seems to be a precursor to ideas about what mobile phones can produce today for museum visitors. Implementation of all ideas point to a very important set of concerns and design ideas that pertain to the length of stay, places of interest, and the frequency of return to event or museum experiences.

In terms of design process it is clear that the role of an interactive designer is being highlighted so that their specialized know-how can be considered to be a primary role in the design of an event exhibition space. The idea here is to emphasize the role of an interactive designer as evolving and very important to exhibition planning. With this in mind it is clear that advances in technology are making it possible to combine new and exciting elements and ways that have never been assembled in such a way before, making interaction design professionals key players in event / environmental design collaborations and projects.