Sydney Office Update January Leasing Magazine | Page 13
SYDNEY OFFICE UPDATE | 10
Image © Katherine Lu.
People today are smarter, savvier and
their expectations are higher than
ever. A good experience is no longer
enough—fail to delight, and you’re
in danger of losing that customer or
employee to someone else who will.
Today’s businesses are also savvier in
their decision-making. Solutions based
on intuition aren’t enough in today’s
economy—you have to bring insight
and evidence that is based on real data.
Those dual forces are why studies like
this are so important.
So how should businesses focus on
experience, and how can design help?
The first step is understanding human
intentions. A key finding of our research
is that the reason a person visits a space
frames what they’re looking for out of
that experience. Are they there to pick
something up and leave? Are they there
to browse and be inspired, or will they
grab dinner with a friend?
Whether it’s for a customer, an
employee or a guest, design can be
the differentiator between a good,
bad or great experience. We organise
these intentions into five “modes” of
experience: task, social, discovery,
entertainment and aspiration. These
modes serve as a lens through which
to better understand human behaviour
and expectations. This knowledge
allows us to design for better
experiences.
SIX DESIGN FACTORS HAVE THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON DESIGN.
The connection between a great
experience and business performance
is well documented—multiple
studies have connected the overall
quality of customer or employee
experience to a company’s long-
term stock performance and growth.
The measurable impact of design
and physical space is, however,
frequently left out of the equation,
and the majority of companies have
no systematic approach to creating
a differentiated strategy for creating
customer, visitor or employee
experiences.
To get to the bottom of this, we
explored the impact of specific design
factors in relation to a great experience.
From among the 75+ design factors
we studied in our survey, six factors
emerged as having the most significant
impact on experience: beauty, novelty,
authenticity, clarity, inspiration and a
sense of welcome. Importantly, these
go beyond just functional factors of
space— they are more experiential and
speak to the overall impression a space
has on a visitor.
The potential impact is huge. One key
example: places with unique design
features are dramatically more likely
to be shared on social media and
recommended to friends and family.
Stores with unique features are shared
10x more often; 6x more often for
workplaces and 3x more often for
public spaces. That speaks to the
power of differentiation—give people
something interesting and new, and
they’re more engaged, and they’ll
tell their friends. The report also
illuminated the direct, positive impact
of designing to support people’s
unstructured time or “discovery”—
nearly ¾ of shoppers who visit retail
stores without the intention of making
a purchase end up buying something,
and employees who take time for
breaks and to reflect are more engaged
and have better workplace experiences.
B U S I N E S S E S T H AT D O N ’ T
INVEST IN DESIGN
A R E OV E R LO O K I N G A N
O P P O RT U N I T Y TO I M P R OV E
SALES, BUILD CONSUMER
L O YA LT Y A N D E N G A G E
E M P LOY E E S .
THE FUTURE IS EXPERIENCE
The human experience must be the
driving force behind every element of
a space—from the design of physical
space to the qualities of interaction,
expectation and intention that together
make up our Experience Framework.
Businesses that put human experience
first will continue to succeed despite
the continued and dramatic shifts
influencing spaces, from stores to
workplaces. And at Gensler, we’ll
continue to leverage design as a crucial
component to those experiences—
delighting, surprising and engaging
people to keep them coming back.
DOWNLOAD THE EXPERIENCE INDEX
Andy Cohen, FAIA, is one of two Gensler Co-CEOS. Andy oversees Gensler’s dynamic global platform and its day-to-day
operations to ensure we are serving our clients locally, wherever they may be. As a creative visionary, Andy pioneers project
types and design innovation strategies for the next century across Gensler’s 29 diverse practice areas. He is champion of
enriching the human experience through design, resiliency and sustainability. Contact him at [email protected].