Tag: experience design

i/o disco

i/o disco is an interactive installation which was unveiled at EDC Las Vegas 2022, a 3-day electronic music festival among the largest in the world. Inspired by old school arcade games, the power of music, and the story of the first house DJs in Chicago, the installation featured an original two-player cooperative rhythm-based game, House Hero. i/o disco was enjoyed by thousands of festival-goers in May 2022.

I was contracted by Project Wonder, the creators of i/o disco, as a project manager and for my expertise in games and experiential.

Continue reading “i/o disco” →

Project Spaceship

Project Spaceship was a structured but flexible tool for “post-concert meaning making” created for ARMYs which I piloted for BTS’ Permission to Dance On Stage shows in Los Angeles in November / December, 2021. By preparing for the aftermath of the 4-night concert series before it even began, I designed Project Spaceship to help us as fans to both comfort and soften post-concert depression and transform our experiences into connection, growth, and inspiration. I ran a second iteration for BTS’ Las Vegas shows in April 2022.

Why a spaceship?

“In my view, BTS concerts take place in an entirely different galaxy. Landing softly back on Earth doesn’t just happen naturally.”

Continue reading “Project Spaceship” →

My trip to Elsewhere

There is a way to talk about The Madcap Motel that is very meta about immersive entertainment. In one form or another, these experiences all aim to transport us Elsewhere and promise us a temporary escape from Reality.

Madcap’s particular Elsewhere is a house of curiosities. Curiosity is the basis for the main part of the experience (basically, what could be behind that door?). The people (actors) trapped in Elsewhere, too, are curious: both inquisitive and unusual. Some wore lab coats and carried clipboards, on which they enthusiastically took notes regarding not only the strange phenomena of Elsewhere but also our own behaviors as visitors. At one point, a scientist character gestured our group over to observe one of the creatures of Elsewhere: a shadow puppet of her own hand behind a large leaf. It is the essence of childlike playfulness: inexhaustible curiosity, and the willingness to take even the most ridiculous things completely seriously.

Continue reading “My trip to Elsewhere” →

The way to travel back to earth: Mapping the design of BTS concert endings

If you are ARMY (a BTS fan), you probably know the common structure of a BTS concert, and you probably know about the last-song lie. This lie has been told at BTS concerts since at least 2015. Here’s what happens. About two hours in, one of the guys, usually RM, announces that “this is the last song.” But really, it’s only the last song before a short break, after which they always return for their encore set—to nobody’s surprise. When RM makes this last song announcement, there is still about another hour’s worth of concert to go, and the audience knows it.

Why has saying something technically untrue become such a reliable feature of BTS’ concerts? Because BTS are masters of something extremely difficult: ending well. They put a great deal of thought into how they end their shows, and they do so because they care about their fans—and themselves—not only in those key emotional moments, but in all other moments too.

Continue reading “The way to travel back to earth: Mapping the design of BTS concert endings” →

Other People Movement

Other People Movement (OPM) is a company that applies principles from positive psychology to address loneliness. OPM convenes small, diverse groups of strangers to connect deeply with one another in facilitated online gatherings called Circles. OPM also offers Collectives, which are months-long group memberships of the same people who regularly meet in Circles. These structured sources of connection provide tools for people to see and hear one another as their whole selves.

As an experience design consultant in 2020, I contributed improvements to the membership experience which led to the next Collective being the very first to make a full-year membership commitment.

Continue reading “Other People Movement” →

Coordination of Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program

From 2014 to 2017, I was the assistant coordinator and classroom manager at the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program. Penn’s MAPP degree was the first of its kind in the world. I was fortunate to work with instructors and guest lecturers who are the leaders in the field (including Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth, James Pawelski, and many more), as well as dozens of brilliant, passionate students and alumni who are leaders in their own right.

What I originally understood as “simply” an administrative role (though a fulfilling one), I have come to recognize as the foundation of my journey as an experience designer for well-being.

Continue reading “Coordination of Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program” →

Review of the BTS Exhibition – Map of the Soul ON:E 오,늘

About a month ago, many BTS fans and I were coming down from an exhilarating marathon weekend of virtual concerts. The Map of the Soul ON:E shows featured two nights of live performances plus two replays of those performances over two days. As the last replay came to an end, I consoled myself that the fun wasn’t really over: the corresponding virtual exhibition, for which I’d purchased a bundled ticket, would be opening soon. Thank goodness I still had something to look forward to. It would be the first online exhibition BTS had ever done, and I was intrigued (as always when it comes to their innovations in experience design) to see what such a thing would be like.

Continue reading “Review of the BTS Exhibition – Map of the Soul ON:E 오,늘” →

Waste It On Me and #TheGreatBTSBillboardHunt: An experiential campaign that mobilized locally and engaged globally

In 2018, one mysterious billboard in Hollywood sparked a hashtag that trended on Worldwide Twitter. How did a campaign that focused on hyper-local “offline” activity in American cities manage to engage thousands of fans from around the globe, who couldn’t directly participate?

I was a presenter at the Korean Marketing Association’s 2020 ICAMA-KAS International Conference. I shared “Waste It On Me and #TheGreatBTSBillboardHunt: A case study of social media-powered promotions that mobilized locally and engaged globally” at the online event on October 31, 2020 (Korea Standard Time).

Watch the recording here

Continue reading “Waste It On Me and #TheGreatBTSBillboardHunt: An experiential campaign that mobilized locally and engaged globally” →

Reciprocity Ring facilitation at Rhizome Connect virtual conference

The Reciprocity Ring is a structured activity that has been used in group settings (originally within corporations) to prompt giving behaviors, tapping into the collective’s potential for generosity and social support. I proposed and facilitated a Reciprocity Ring event for Rhizome Connect, a virtual social and scholarly event for BTS fans that took place August 7 – 16, 2020.

Continue reading “Reciprocity Ring facilitation at Rhizome Connect virtual conference” →

Publication – Healing Spaces: Feasibility of a multisensory experience for older adults with advanced dementia and their caregivers

A paper on the design and feasibility evaluations of Healing Spaces was published as part of the proceedings of the PETRA ’20 Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments. I contributed to the paper as second author, particularly in section 4.1 describing the RITE study, which I led during the project’s development. 

Named Best Novelty Paper at PETRA 2020 Best Paper Awards

The paper is available here.

Continue reading “Publication – Healing Spaces: Feasibility of a multisensory experience for older adults with advanced dementia and their caregivers” →

Bang Bang Con: The Live – Experience Design Case Study of a Virtual Concert

Last weekend at around 4:30 AM, I rolled over to turn off my alarm, already wide awake from excitement for a virtual concert by BTS called Bang Bang Con: The Live. I had slept in my “concert outfit” (merch t-shirt) and my ARMY Bomb lightstick was on my bedside table ready to go. Waking up at crazy hours for BTS is sort of a no-brainer for me at this point; in fact it all feels like part of the experience for ARMYs who live outside of Asia and Oceania. I tweeted to assure my ARMY friends I was awake.

Continue reading “Bang Bang Con: The Live – Experience Design Case Study of a Virtual Concert” →

Healing Spaces

“A smart platform that allows caregivers to transform spaces through light, color, sounds, and visuals, turning any environment into a place where older adults living with dementia can focus, engage, and relax.”

I was a designer and usability researcher on this hybrid digital and physical media experience, a USC MFA thesis project by Gabriela Gomes.

Continue reading “Healing Spaces” →

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑