How Spaces Become Places

Sometime last year, we were finally presented with the opportunity to return to face-to-face conferences, expos and meeting around the world. Many were reminded that when you walk into a room full of people sharing that space together, it becomes something more than just a place you go to for meetings, work and presentations. Gathering in a physical area has another dynamic and significance to us, not just as professionals but as humans. It gives us something that we crave; meaning. A space gains meaning because of what happens in it, and it becomes a place when it is filled with people and their memories.

The definitions of space vary. Leisure spaces might be a theme park, a museum or the digital realm of a game. Workspaces might be an office, a conference room, or a virtual meeting. And then there is home and school – the list can be elaborated further, but all spaces share a universal rule: When people are in a space, their experiences become the defining elements that make it a place. As phrased by Yi-Fu Tuan in “Space and Place – The Perspective of Experience“, what begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value.

When we think about designing spaces for people, we need to focus on what they will experience rather than the design elements and objects of the place itself. An audience-centric approach makes for more engaging and memorable sites because it allows us to build narratives into our spaces that are amplified by the inner narrative of those who experience them. We design what happens around people to evoke reactions inside them. People are the focal point of our creative strategy and concept for a spatial experience, to be prioritised higher than the space itself; people first, spatial attributes second. When you’re designing a space for someone else, you need to think about their inner narrative and what kind of story they will build around themselves in that space – whether it’s a home, office or a third place of leisure or learning.

Places are not just digital or physical, and their gravitational point to ensure their successful combination is people. Physical spaces are not dead, but to make them more important than ever, we must consider how they can be developed as unique and memorable places. Furthermore, as the physical space expands into the virtual space of metaverses and multiverses, the crucial connection point in successful convergences is audience-centric hybrid thinking.

It all comes down to this: How will you design spaces of meaning and value to people that will turn them into valued places, regardless of whether they are part of a physical or virtual reality – or a combination of both? With a robust and convincing answer to that question, you may have just cracked to code on how to make a place become a space.

Interview With David Bassuk: Using Spatial Narrative for Experience Design

Experience designers and storytellers across industries are finding new ways of creating engaging audience journeys. Storytelling, for instance, has been an excellent way to build experiences that unfold on narratives. But storytelling doesn’t stop at scripts or characters. At AdventureLAB, we use storytelling as a design method, for instance. Another particular application is for creating spatial narratives. To expand on this topic, we invited David Bassuk to share his thoughts and experience with us.

Currently Professor of Acting in the Conservatory of Theater Arts at Purchase College, SUNY, School of the Arts & Creative Director of White Horse Immersive in Hangzhou, China. His teaching explores the integration of theatre, transmedia storytelling, gameplay and the design of immersive narratives and storyworlds. Directs in professional acting programs, mentors students in stage directing, creative writing and designing experimental performances. Current projects include working with UNAMI, The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq designing a project called “Futurers2050”  a game played across Iraq aimed at building youth motivation on the issue of water scarcity. 

Thank you, David, for taking the time to share your thoughts on this interesting subject. First, can you tell our readers what spatial narrative is and how you work with it?

A spatial narrative is one where the immersive experience of moving through space accumulates meaning differently than in a linear story. Here a story is encountered rather than explained.

The space becomes a container for discovery and interaction, offering a meaningful engagement between the storyteller and the audience as they discover narrative elements while exploring the scenic and game potential afforded by the space.

What elements need to be considered when we create a spatial narrative?

Architectural elements are critical to our understanding and can predict and even shape what happens in a location. Additionally, spatial narratives employ architectural space to create opportunities for experiences and storytelling, determining the content of engagement and sometimes even inspiring values. Beyond the architecture and physical design, the space offers the potential for opportunities for all kinds of attention gathering. Using puzzles, games, and all types of storytelling for numerous industries, institutions, or businesses, the space has the potential to activate engagement.

What are the main advantages of adopting such an approach?

The advantage is that the audience engages in the discovery process, which enhances their involvement within the spatial narrative.

What are some challenges creators meet when expanding narratives into a space?

The hunger for immediate clarity can be challenging. A spatial design is meant to slow the audience down and provide obstacles for them to have a more meaningful experience. 

How do you invite the audience into these spaces, especially when they are not eager to participate?

When the audience is not eager to participate, there are many tools to invite them, including reframing their mindset to see participation as a goal. The experience designer must persuade, cajole, and enchant the audience into a deeper level of engagement. 

Can you tell us an example of a project you worked on that made you proud / or took your application of the discipline to a new level?

An example that comes to mind is when I created the story and game design of a theme park in China. I designed a narrative about the discovery of ancient alien life forms and their creation of a lost civilization, all within the mythology of the ancient Mayans. My project was part of the Ocean Flower Island theme park in Hainan. An experience filled with scientific learning, an enjoyable story, and complex games and social interactions. 

What do you think are the opportunities and challenges presented by Virtual Reality for spatial narrative design?

Whether real or virtual, spaces have human interaction as the dominant element. Virtual spaces are more transformational; however, each has doorways or portals, clues to be found in spaces, and social interactions based on proximity and the opportunities of the design.

December 15th, 2022

AdventureLAB is organizing a three-day event in March 2023, facilitated by Klaus Sommer Paulsen in collaboration with creative director and educator David Bassuk.

The participants will explore new ways of using space to create unique experiences for visitors with game and play, interaction, immersive storytelling and more. We will work with methods and tools that transform spaces from passive backgrounds into living stories that attract, engage and retain visitors.

How character development can elevate your guest experiences

Great character development creates more opportunities for storytelling in projects across different industries.

Any story needs characters, and in good stories, they are well-thought and well-designed. They present the story through their actions, emotions, motivations and own faith. Whether we root for them or want them to lose the fight, we care for their journey. That is, if there are enough reasons for us to care. The characters live the story we follow; therefore, a flat character also reflects a flat story. Or the opposite, an exciting string of events in a narrative emerges from the motivations and aspirations of the characters.

But not only movies, theatre or fictional books benefit from good character development. This process became more common in themed entertainment, now also in cultural attractions and museums, marketing and branding. There are many advantages of adding characters to a guest or customer experience applying good practices for creating character dynamics. 

What is character development?

Character development is a practice for creating fictional characters, or sometimes recreating historical characters, with depth in personality, human traits and emotional complexity. A writer can add human attributes even to the most imaginary creatures, such as alien beings or talking teapots. It makes them much more relatable to the audience.

This process differs from character design which covers their style and visual aspect. Character development looks inside their mind and considers their origins, motivations, beliefs etc. The goal is to make them relatable and memorable and give them the power to direct the narrative from within. Therefore writers create characters that evolve with the plot line and overcome challenges and obstacles. Often, their motivations derive from a backstory. The challenge or the conflict of the story often brings out the character’s true personality, not least creating a powerful dynamic in the story. Their values and core identity define the way a character overcomes challenges. In great stories, all these elements are not coincidental but well-thought and designed to build up the plot’s resolution.

Why is character development important for other industries than entertainment?

With the rise of storytelling as a discipline for creating better customer or guest experiences, characters take a new role beyond the traditional mascot. In retail, for example, mascots have been important in creating memorable brands, standing out on packages or in funny commercials. Often these characters don’t present much depth, playing only one role, that of a mascot.

Brands are now telling stories not only about themselves but about their customers. Adding relatable characters who move these stories creates a better connection with the audience.  Character building and application differentiate from industry to industry, and their role can take a different form depending on strategy and goals.

Character development for theme parks

A fantastic thing about theme parks is that we often get to meet beloved characters. Disney Parks host some of the most famous Disney characters who are always happy to take selfies with guests. What happens when a theme park doesn’t have a library of characters to pick from? They have to come up with some. Character building for themed parks or even singular themed attractions creates opportunities for good storytelling, outstanding guest experience design and merchandising. Often, the merchandise becomes a manifestation of the memories made in the park. Good character development helps us create those memories.

Another advantage of adopting this process is to add life to a theme park. Sometimes theme park design is like story world building. Along with the different zones, visual design and events, this story world must also have characters. In the development process, we define how this character will act in the world we are building for the park.

During one of our workshops with the Jesperhus park in Denmark, a new character emerged – Dr Træls. He is a villain-like character created for more dynamic stories with the fun and drama involved in villain crises. Dr Træls is greedy, doesn’t like animals and is always up to no good. His name, translated from Danish, means something like “irritating” or “annoying”. This antagonist character created opportunities for building new experiences and expanding the narratives. Today he even got his own attraction in the park, which says how much the guests like him.

Character development for museums

In museums, we mostly meet historical characters who have influenced our culture and history. Sometimes exhibitions have characters recreated from historical figures we know something about and can help tell the story better. One of the most recent examples is how the National Museum of Denmark is using advanced technology to create a 3D avatar for the girl Egtvedpigen from the Bronze Age, discovered in her oak coffin 101 years ago. Now the 16-18 y.o. girl will have a digital avatar with a voice and real human mimicry.

In some cases, museums present stories of entire social groups or processes. To tell the story of the masses can be difficult, so exhibition directors sometimes use fictional characters that embody the story’s message. This way, they transform information presentation into storytelling, often from a first-person point of view.

Take, for instance, an exhibition that represents the modernisation of peasants in France in the 19th century. To understand this process from the peasants’ point of view, we follow a farmer named Pierre. He tells us how his village changed with the construction of a railroad nearby and how some of his neighbours started moving closer to the city. Seeing history through Pierre’s eyes, we can see the impact of modernisation on people. Numbers and data become stories. Pierre’s challenges and how his life changes make us more empathetic towards this character and anchor the story better in our minds. Perhaps some of us find similarities with modern challenges we encounter in our lives. With character development, Pierre receives a backstory and a path through the story – if he is not happy about the new railroad, then we must know why. He has motivations and aspirations, so we feel bad for him if he can’t accomplish them.

Character development for brands

Character building gives brand messages a voice and human attributes. Not to confuse with personas in marketing, which are mostly customer oriented, based on demographics, psychographics and buyer behaviour. Characters in marketing can be used to appeal to the target audience and represent the company values as an extension of a brand. They can be an independent entity that as a person reacts to events, celebrates successes, overcomes challenges and makes connections with others. Here is where character development comes into play. It helps us understand how this new character will react to one or another situation. Designing its personality is also suitable for evaluating its fit with the brand. They have the potential to become timeless, evolving together with the target audience.

A brand character can also be abstract, not a figure with visual attributes, but rather a set of guidelines which represent the brand personality. This character can also be developed with a set of values, motivations and goals. It gives the brand a voice and a stand, making it more complex, like a human who connects to customers on a deeper level.

(See the article we have on Brand Story)

What makes a well-thought character?

As mentioned above, character development is, in a way, personality development for someone who doesn’t exist, but we want to make it real. Therefore, a great character also has flaws; they may doubt themselves or lack confidence. They are memorable through their personality and reaction to the events that come their way. They are relatable not only through age or context but through motivations and challenges. They transform through the story encouraging the audience to grow together with them. Their story doesn’t end with the awaited achievements because a great character is defined not by their context but by their inner journey.

Dynamic in groups of characters

Imagine Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader or Frodo Baggins without Sauron. It is a bit difficult to break these famous heroes and villains apart. A great story needs contrast which is brought forward through relationships between protagonists and antagonists. A villain with a good reason behind their action makes an interesting character to follow and even empathises with. It is worth mentioning that an antagonist can also be an abstract concept, such as the personal struggles of the main character.

Secondary characters, despite the term “secondary” are immensely helpful in supporting the story. They support our protagonists, helping them achieve their goals. They can be a great comedic relief or even oppositional.

If possible, having a character set helps tell the story from more points of view and create guest experiences. Referring to our Dr Træls example, bringing a villain into a park for children, where before we could meet cute animals, proves successful for adding dynamics to the story. Even smaller children understand that.

Character development can sometimes be costly and come with risks. Therefore good planning and well-structured, strategic development can help not only meet but exceed expectations.

Characters can add a lot of fun to a guest experience, becoming our adventure companion and making us see their world closer. They can help us immerse ourselves in the story and follow the journey with more excitement and anticipation.

How will your next character help you tell your story?

July 25th, 2022
Author: Ecaterina Capatina
Concept developer and Brand Manager at AdventureLAB

The Power of Mobile Storytelling

As we are approaching the spring and summer season for tourism and leisure, we gathered a few insights into mobile-based experience design focusing on storytelling. These guidelines are drawn from some of our current observations into the industry and destination development trends. 

Why Mobile Storytelling?

As of February 2022, 57.38% of all internet traffic happened on mobile phones. (gs.statcounter.com) These statistical trends drive companies to find means to fit the best way possible on the smaller screens. Therefore, it is not big news that various businesses prioritise mobile-friendly content.

With accelerated digitalisation, we encounter more mobile solutions for various customer experience touchpoints – from bookings to ticketing, guided tours etc. Customers are more familiar with this approach and increasingly expect to have digital, mobile alternatives. They understand the digital language better; they see it as a communication medium and an entertainment source.

Mobile storytelling – a method to deliver a story experience to an audience at the tip of their fingers.

Functionality and entertainment

Destinations, theme parks, touristic attractions often choose this approach as an added layer of the on-location activities. Among other things, they offer mobile guided tours, treasure hunts, navigation. With a non-linear structure, the visitors can also explore these journeys on their terms, which brings them into an explorer mode. Non-linear journeys also meet the guests’ need for coordinating their plans independently.

The flexibility of the mobile device allows us to span a guest’s journey on multiple locations and at the same time still be able to track their movement and actions.

Mobile storytelling has been on the themed entertainment landscape for a while. With the rise of social media platforms, it has become part of the marketing language. With more accessible advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G, augmented reality, mobile-based experiences are rising to new interactivity, engagement, and business interest levels. Recently, we have been involved with an increasing number of projects focusing on on-location mobile experiences, which shows an evolving trend. A common purpose of these projects is to deliver engaging journeys while increasing visitor flow and retention.

Using the advantages of the space is what sets apart one product from another.

Micro Experiences

A concept that helps us create an authentic mobile storytelling product is designing Micro Experiences, which deeply connect the overall narrative to the chosen locations. Klaus Sommer Paulsen describes the concept more in-depth in his book Integrated Storytelling by Design. When we work with projects like that, we think story-first and technology-second. In the end, it’s all about creating memories. For example, we first research the place, find and define the grand narrative, break it apart into unique smaller stories for each section of our journey. Afterwards, we match the narrative with the best fitting mobile feature available to complete our experience.

The core of a unique experience is the remarkable story, which becomes part of the audience narrative, resulting in memorable moments.

The authenticity of a place can’t be replicated, even though the framework of the mobile solution can be.

Article first published on March 24th, 2022
in The Experience Economist (AdventureLAB’s newsletter)

Author: Ecaterina Capatina
Concept developer and Brand Manager at AdventureLAB