Choice Review

Designing experiences, environments, companies, etc., has become a modern-day term. Despite its widespread adoption, there is not much literature that describes how to design, create, and implement these experiences, let alone how to define the best type of experiences with which to attain specific goals and objectives. Enter Designing Experiences with a simple, compelling, and rich description and terminology to define the experience and the process. Starting with the notion of "intentionality," and using the building blocks of "micro and macro experiences," the authors define the elements of the process and the "dramatic structure" itself. "Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement summarize the process," they write. There are many analogies to this; the authors' cite Gustav Freytag and the hero's journey (or a normal distribution curve). Both the rationale and the process make a useful framework, buttressed by practice examples of successful practitioners of the process. The text is clear, concise, and a must read for anyone interested in the subject. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Stuart A. Schulman, CUNY Baruch College