If you’re looking for books on how to make successful IRL Experiences and/or immersive experiences, you can find some books on the subject. Not a whole lot, but some.
But let met tell you where you can find 1000’s of books to help make your experiences successful. Books filled with scientific studies that cost millions and millions of dollars. And they can help make your experience better.
I’m talking about business books.
Many creative types, including many experience designers, can be resistant to the lessons of business books. Concepts like capitalism, money, business can be a big turnoff. However in my experience it’s a rose by any other name. If you are creating something for someone and you want to be compensated for it in some way (either from the attendee or from some grant-giving nonprofit or government agency), there are many ideas and solutions in the business literature. It’s just not in the right language.
Businesses and Experience Design (and most art for that matter) are mostly an act of creating something for someone with the hope of getting something (money, appreciation, a better world, personal satisfaction, etc) in return. The underlying principles are the same. The language just needs to be translated sometimes.
Here’s just some possible translations:
- Market Analysis > Cultural or Audience Insights
- Market Segmentation > Audiences
- Value Proposition > Creative Proposition
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP) > Artistic Value or Merit
- Product Development > Creative Process
- Business Model > Creative Sustainability Model
- Sales Funnel > Engagement Journey
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) > Audience Engagement
- Strategic Partnership > Collaborative Synergy
- Brand Equity > Artistic Identity
- Brand Loyalty > Follower Devotion
- Profit Margin > Creative Efficiency
- Return on Investment (ROI) > Impact
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) > Audience Lifetime Engagement
Yes, most of the business books’ examples come from big companies you might not like and rich CEOs who may think far too much of themselves. But perhaps look at it this way: you can get millions of dollars of research and analysis that can help make your creation succeed if you buy a $15 book. Or an $8 used book. Or for $0 and a library card.
What kinds of books?
Books on how to decide, get focused, find a “why”. Books on how not to get distracted, on planning, on projecting, on organizing tasks. Books on forming teams and partnerships, communicating with people, managing people. Books on getting reaching the people who want the thing you are doing. Books on what to do next when you accomplish or don’t accomplish what you wanted to.
The lessons are all the same under the hood.
You don’t have to agree with everything in a book to get something out of it. There’s books that I have disliked the writing style, the author, and disagreed with over what half the book said. But for $8 I learned a few select things that saved me time, money, and most importantly made my creations far better. If you’ve been turned off by business books but are struggling in your creative endeavors, I encourage you to give them a try and do a little translating.