Bob Jacobson is back and just posted a-well, I'm not sure what to call it yet as I am still digesting. But if you interested in Experience Design and why people crave positive, meaningful experiences-you should read it. Bob describes his notion of "Composing for Experience" which takes me back to Dan Pink's description of Symphony. Actually, composition and symphony do make interesting metaphors and may help explain the mystery behind the lack of a comprehensive and universal definition of Experience Design. It may be in fact, a truly intuitive discipline-and intuition is difficult to put an elevator speech around. Interesting stuff and certainly food for thought. Go give it a read.
"Composition means gathering elements of meaning and emotion from the environment, the audience, and in one's self, applying what one knows and feels about experience, and then expressing not so much a solution as a creation. the process of composing has rules by which it's conducted, but the actual composition of a work - including an environment that provokes desired experiences - remains a personal feat and something of a mystery."
"The natural next step will be for designers of experience to integrate and apply the methods of scoring and wayshowing concurrently, Thus creating places, not only in the physical world but also in the virtual worlds of knowledge and understanding, that reveal themselves in the same way that a musical composition is heard. this is composing for experience."
Link to original post