Designing for Transformation: A Week Inside Experience Design at Central Saint Martins
Over a week in August, I stepped out of my usual rhythm and into the Experience Design short course at Central Saint Martins — a space filled with architects, marketers, designers, producers, and artists, all exploring what it really means to design an experience.
It was one of those rare weeks that feels both expansive and grounding. A reminder that creativity isn't just about making things — it's about shaping how people feel, move, think, and connect.
Designing for Transformation
Experience Design isn't about spectacle or aesthetics. It's about transformation.
It asks questions like: What does a person feel? What shifts inside them? What do they carry with them afterwards? Throughout the course, we explored how emotions, senses, narrative and behaviour shape the way people experience the world — and how intentional design can transform those moments. It's a way of thinking that reveals itself everywhere once you start looking for it — in the way light moves through a room, in the pacing of a visitor's journey, in the placement of a single object.
Narrative, Emotion, and Joyful Chaos
One of my favourite exercises involved reimagining The Lion King. We took the familiar story apart, rearranged the scenes, and watched how the emotional arc changed completely. It was a playful but profound reminder of how narrative structure shapes meaning.
The real fun began when we built physical prototypes of emotions — anxiety, curiosity, joy, conflict — using cardboard, paper, rope, foil, fans, stones… anything we could get our hands on. It was messy, collaborative, and surprisingly revealing. There's something magical about watching a group of adults dive into childlike making with total commitment.
Thrown Into the Wild: The South Bank Challenge
One of the most energising moments of the week was being thrown onto the South Bank and challenged to design and test experiences for the general public — with only an hour to think, build, and experiment.
It was chaotic, exhilarating, and deeply collaborative. There's something about designing in public that forces you to let go of perfection and trust the process.
Applying Experience Design to My Practice
For my own project — a sound healing and visual journey through the five elements, created with Starseed Offerings — the course opened new dimensions. It helped me articulate the transformation we want to create, map the emotional arc of the experience, and design sensory touchpoints that support that journey.
It also helped me bridge two worlds I often feel caught between: the structured world of strategy and the intuitive world of art. Experience Design sits beautifully in the middle. It's strategic, but human. Structured, but emotional. Creative, but grounded in research and psychology.
Looking Ahead
Huge appreciation to Pigalle Tavakkoli and Susanne Buck, who created a space that was rigorous, playful, collaborative and deeply inspiring — and to everyone on the course for the creativity, generosity and joyful chaos that made the week unforgettable.
I'm excited to bring these methods into my artistic practice — to design experiences that feel intentional, connected, and transformative. This course has already reshaped how I think about audience, emotion, and multisensory storytelling, and I can feel it changing the way I approach future work.
If you're curious about Experience Design, or want to explore how it can shape artistic or experiential projects, I'd love to share more.
Want more?
💌 Interested in collaborating? → djartworks.com/contact