Project Type: Training and CPD

Experience Design Training

Our popular Experience Design course is approaching it’s 15th year! 

Since 2012 we have worked with 100’s of students from all areas of industry and all corners of the world. While they come for different reasons there’s one thing in common: they want to design better experiences that have a genuine impact. 

Here are a few changes we have noticed since we started:

  • More people understand what Experience Design is – some of our first students were surprised (and delighted) that we weren’t teaching digital UX. Now some have Experience Design in their job title.
  • We’ve shifted from ‘experiential design’ to ‘transformational design’ – it’s no longer enough to design for the moment, it’s all about sustained long term change. 
  • It’s a worldwide phenomenon – over the last few years we’ve taught students from 38 different countries, and the countries going through the most exciting cultural shifts are paying most attention (Hello Saudi Arabia!).
  • Experience Design is not one role – its an interdisciplinary approach to all and any design discipline where a mix of empathy, storytelling and interaction creates the magic.

The course runs both as a week long ‘sprint’ and a 10 week evening class, as part of UAL’s Short Course programme and for private clients. If you are interested in taking part or us designing a bespoke course for your team, find out more here.

“One of the most impactful and interesting short courses I’ve taken!”

“I still think back on this course 10 years later! 🙂”

“Just wrapped up a short course on Experience Design at University of the Arts London and honestly, it was such a refreshing dive into a whole new way of thinking about design!! We explored everything from the role of story and narrative to how environments, objects, and even the senses can shape an audience’s journey. A huge thanks to Susanne Buck and Phaedra Corrigan for guiding us through this course with so much insight and energy (and a few laughs here and there :D).”

National Gallery Evaluation Framework

Flow worked with the National Gallery on a comprehensive evaluation framework to support the delivery their 2021-26 learning strategy. It aims to empower everyone to integrate evaluation into their practice, to design for more effective and impactful work across the broad range of onsite, offsite and online programmes that the Gallery delivers. We created a digital toolkit which guides staff through the why, how and when of evaluation, providing template tools and activities which can be used bespokely across their audiences.

The fresh redesign of the Evaluation Framework tackled issues with the existing processes including difficulty of use, the challenge of collecting relevant insights and the move to online delivery. We carried out extensive consultation with Learning staff in order to understand their programmes, current use of evaluation and the ambitions for their programmes. From this Flow developed an evaluation toolkit with materials and guides for collecting evaluation data which related to their strategic aims, reporting requirements and professional development.

A key focus was capturing evidence of qualitative outcomes for participants using a ‘360 degrees’ process as a way of understanding collective success as a team. The evaluation framework provided support to collect and analyse participants’ skills development, learning of new knowledge and of teir experience of the programme. For the Learning Team and wider National Gallery the framework also established metrics for understanding cultural capital and how participants can be empowered through it.

Training was provided across the Learning team and with facilitators and ongoing support given in order to refine tools as they were put into action.

 

Museum Training School

We design and deliver training courses for professionals in education, arts, museums and public-facing businesses. These develop skills and insights into Experience Design, Narrative Environments, Evaluation and Creative Learning. For example, in Summer 2014, Bridget designed and taught one unit of the new Museum Training School. This is a partnership between the British Council and University College London, aimed at international emerging museum professionals. Our unit included sessions on learning theory, designing for different learners, play-based learning and evaluating learning in displays.

Our clients say “We were delighted with the success of the course and it was obvious from the final session that the participants found it very useful and inspiring.” Jane Weeks, Museums & Heritage Adviser, British Council

Photo with permission of Yuliya Glazyrina