The impressions we remember of an event are often based on many disparate elements coming together and integrating seamlessly to form an amazing experience. You can remember an experience that blew you away. But do you know what made it amazing?

I was talking to a friend who was a DJ and he said to me that if he is good at his job, you will never notice him – because you notice things when they are bad, but when they are good they will be invisible. The experience you want is one where all the elements complement each other without gaps.

These days we want to be a part of the experience though. In the DJ world song requests are often seen as a real distraction to the craft, but there is a good reason they happen – we want to be a part of the process. When the artist can mash up their creative expression with that of the people around them there is potential for something greater, but this is a rare thing! The artist evolves from an individual in a structured process to a facilitator whose role it is to provide an open space for emergent behaviour, paired with direction and guidance where the players are nudged along a journey.

Experience design has been a part of web usability conversations for a while now, but where it gets really interesting is where these communities are themselves enabling people to consider and facilitate their own experiences – both online and offline integrated. Think Lifehacker, Instructables, Make Magazine, Flip cameras and Youtube, Etsy and Mission Bicycle.

Here is how Adaptive Path designed the Mission Bicycle experience.

These experiences can be architected if the right people are in play. It is about a smooth customer experience that just makes sense. Everything you need is there for you. It takes you on a journey of flow where you are on a path of challenge and learning. It’s playful.

We want to make, mashup and learn. We want to do it ourselves.

By Ross Hill - January 11th, 2010 at 2:42pm with 172 views - adaptive path etsy flip instructables lifehacker make magazine mission bicycle youtube