Many projects begin with a solution.
“We need an app.”
“We should run a workshop.”
“Let’s produce a video.”
“We need an event.”
Only afterwards does the organisation clarify what the chosen format is actually supposed to achieve. This is understandable. Formats are easier to discuss than abstract outcomes. But it creates a familiar problem:
The project is designed around the medium.
From output to outcome
A different approach begins at the end. What should a person know, feel, understand or do differently after the experience?
Should a guest perceive a location differently?
Should an employee understand a process?
Should a customer associate a brand with a particular experience?
Should a team make a decision?
This is where good experience design begins. Only then should the format be selected.
Constraints are not an interruption to creativity
Reality also belongs in the design process early.
Budget. Time. Location. Audience. Group size.
Technical infrastructure. Operational processes. These are not annoying limitations to creativity. They are design parameters. The earlier they are understood, the more realistic and useful the solution can become.
That is why custom Game Solutions should not begin with a finished format. They begin with the objective, audience, context and real-world requirements.
Technology enters surprisingly late
Technology, surprisingly, should often enter the discussion relatively late. “We need an app” does not describe an outcome. It describes a medium. Perhaps an app is exactly right. Perhaps a physical element would be stronger. Perhaps the experience needs both.
Perhaps technology adds nothing. Planning backwards from the desired experience makes that decision much easier. With Game Solutions the choice between digital, analogue or hybrid therefore follows the objective and intended experience rather than defining them in advance.
And the principle extends far beyond games.
Good solutions rarely begin with:
“What can we build?”
They begin with: