Simon de Haast discusses some tools from the Experience Designers Toolbox in a three part series.

Experience design thinking: A fish called wonder [Part 1]

If one is trying to be innovative within the data and computer security field, you could start by examining the metaphors used. First thing you would notice is that it is a world borrowed from microbiology: virus, infection, self-replication, vectors...While these shortcuts can narrow our thinking, they can also help us make novel connections.

Experience design thinking: Using tourists, fish and maps [Part 2]

Organizations are structured to service today’s revenue, with budgets, targets, and KPIs reinforcing the legacy status quo. Bain’s study shows that 80% of the firms said that they delivered a “superior experience” while only 8% of the customers – the recipients of this supposed superior service – agreed. Outside-in thinking is the way to tackle this lack of satisfaction gap.

Experience design thinking: A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world [Part 3]

When trying to understand more deeply the moments that matter in a customer’s ‘journey’, it occurred to me that countries fall into the trap of inside-out thinking in how they market destinations. I redrew a map that reflected a visitors experience *zones to imagine how South Africa would look to an “outsider”. It was vastly different to the state organized Visitor Bureau's approach that exists today.