Design’s Role in the Experience Economy
The word “economy” brings to mind money and business, the idea of selling goods to customers. It can be divided into the various stages of the goods, like the raw commodity economy, the processed product economy, and the delivered service economy. As time has gone on, though, a new type of economy has grown that provides a unique kind of product and captivates customers in a deeper way; this is the experience economy.
Economy Structure
The progression of the economy types shows the various stages of how consumers interact with goods. As the product being purchased becomes more involved and intensive, the cost goes up, requiring businesses to balance price and value to maintain customers.
Source: FenixExp
Commodity
Commodities are the raw materials. The commodity economy is the starting point of the progress, the most basic exchange of money for goods. For example, a pizza’s commodities would be flour and eggs for the dough and tomatoes for the sauce.
Product
Products are items created from commodities. They are made and packaged to be sold. The customers pay not only for the ingredients but the added labor and convenience of not having to make it themselves. This could be like buying a frozen pizza from the grocery store.
Service
Service involves people doing a task on behalf of a customer. The amount of interaction the employee has with the client can vary, but the general idea is that the business takes care of most of the work. For example, someone could order pizza delivery and have both the service of those making the dish as well as the service of the deliverer.
Experience
All of these build up to the most elaborate product, the experience. There has been increasing customer participation in each of these sections, and this part emphasizes the user’s senses during the interaction. It goes beyond simply providing an object to appealing to emotions and making a lasting impression on the user’s mind.
For example, a person could go to a pizza restaurant with their friends. In addition to the food, they have the enjoyable mood of going out while the decorations and lighting of the restaurant set a certain tone. The customer may be able to watch workers toss the dough and put the pizza in a wood fire oven, creating awe and building anticipation for the meal. The employee is essentially putting on a show.
These elements add to the value of the experience and if done well, will easily justify the extra cost for the consumer.
Emotion and Design
The impact of an experience relies on eliciting emotions from the customer. They could be good emotions, such as joy and surprise from a beautiful show, or even a mix, like excitement and fear from waiting to ride a large rollercoaster. The important part is leaving an effect on people that makes them want to come back for more.
This is where design becomes crucial. Whether it be a small experience like an app or a large one like a ride, design is needed to understand how to turn user wants into a valuable service.
Don Norman’s Three Layers of User Experience describes the three steps of a person having a new encounter.
The visceral level is the immediate response to a product’s appearance. It is the most basic feeling we have towards something we see for the first time, whether it be pretty or ugly, interesting or boring.
The behavioral level is where the user interacts with the product in some way, leaving a subconscious impression of their experience.
The final layer is the reflective level. This is the lasting impact of the experience, what the user remembers later on and the emotions that come with it.
Creating Value with Design
With each step, design has played an increasingly important role in engaging customers with a product.
