As designers and architects, we often talk about how a space looks, how it functions, and how it flows. But what we don’t talk about enough is how it feels, or more specifically, what kind of “experience” it offers.
Experience design isn’t a new concept, but recently, it’s gaining more attention. It’s not just about what happens in a space; it’s about what people take with them after they leave. We are seeing a shift across industries — workplace, retail, hospitality, healthcare, cultural and entertainment industry — where the user’s emotional and sensory journey is becoming just as important as spatial layout or finishes. That shift isn’t a trend but a deeper understanding of the power of design. At its core, experience design connects people to place. It turns a space into a story. 
Architecture: The Original Immersive Experience
Experience design may sound new, especially with immersive installations trending in entertainment and exhibitions, such as Immersive Van Gogh, Meow Wolf, Moment Factory and Museum of Illusions. But as experience designer and writer Margaret Kerrison reminds us, “Architecture is the original immersive experience.” Think of the great buildings of the past, such as theaters, churches, libraries and markets. They weren’t just places to pass through. They were designed to guide you, to move you, and to make you feel something.
French architect Charles Garnier’s Palais Garnier opera house is a masterclass in experiential thinking. Garnier paid attention to how people approached the building, gathered, wandered and paused at the grand staircase to be seen. He thought about the visitor’s experience and wrote detailed descriptions of their encounter of the space. He choreographed a sensory and emotional journey, including the textures, lighting, scale and movement that began long before the curtain rose. It wasn’t just about the performance on stage. The entire building was part of the story. As designers of the built environment, we can all learn from his approach. Whether we are designing a hotel lobby or a workplace lounge, we are shaping how people experience space, and crafting their immersive experiences.
Experience Design and Emotion
When we design for experience, we are designing how people feel in a space. That feeling is what they will remember.
Experience design doesn’t need to be theatrical. It’s not about a digital screen or a spectacle. It’s about being intentional with your design. It might be the warmth of a material under your hand, the way light stretches across a wall, or creating a quiet corner that feels like refuge. These seemingly small details, when layered with purpose, create environments that feel deeply human. Good experience design allows for choice, control and emotional engagement. When people feel seen, and when the space responds to their behavior or needs, they feel connected. Through experience design, we can design those invitations. Flexible settings, ambient cues, sensory moments and space for reflection let people co-create the experience. That’s what makes the experience memorable.
Experience is Storytelling
Storytelling and experience design go hand in hand. People don’t remember specs, but they remember the story and how a place made them feel. Margaret Kerrison, the author of the book “The Immersive Storytelling Revolution,” says it best: “Stories give us meaning. We tell stories to feel something.” In spatial design, story is told through designer’s spatial language, when a sequence, texture, scale, sound, smell and light all comes together. We turn square footage into a rich narrative, a journey.
No one does this better than Disney. Bob Weiss, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, said great guest experience makes people feel like they are the star of their own stories. As spatial designers, we set the stage for the story, and invite people to bring their own stories. People become active participants of the bigger story, as they come together and build meaningful connections.
That level of intentionality has reshaped how other industries think about space. In consumer environments, customer experience is now a core part of brand identity. People want to be part of something, not just passive observers. In retail, we are seeing brands move from transactions to emotional storytelling. In the workplace, experience is becoming a strategic driver. Companies are investing in “workplace experience” roles, experience-based programming and spaces that support focus, collaboration and well-being. This shift recognizes that environments don’t just house people. Through experience design and storytelling, they shape engagement, trust and belonging.
Participation and Personalization
Experience design is participatory. It involves active exchange between people and place. It invites participants to engage and actively respond to their surroundings and events. This human-centered user journey is a powerful tool for engagement and brand activation.
In retail, brands are blending tech, storytelling and spatial design to create emotional experiences. Random Studio’s work for Glossier’s fragrance flagship is a great example. Visitors entered a mood-responsive, sensory retail environment. Using AI, personalized poems are generated and displayed based on each person’s emotional response to scent. It turned presence into participation. As Forbes noted, “AI and design are converging to turn retail into something emotional, interactive and deeply personal.” Glossier’s approach shows how data, storytelling and sensory experience can come together to create a space that feels personal and memorable. And while this may sound high-tech, it all comes down to something simple and fundamental: how a space makes you feel.
The Rise of Immersive Wellness
As interest in wellness and mental health grows, people are seeking experiential spaces that support reflection, healing and restoration. That’s why we are seeing the rise of immersive wellness experiences that blend art, science and design to support well-being.
This may include multisensory installations of artists like James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson and Yayoi Kusama, as well as immersive exhibitions by Submersive, DreamMachine and Chromasonic. From wellness spas to mindfulness rooms, these spaces use light, acoustics, scent, temperature, color and texture to shape how people feel.
The science supports this. We know that sensory environments shape behavior. And growing research in neuroaesthetics continues to support what we designers intuitively understand: People feel better in environments that are thoughtfully designed across multiple senses. Sensory-rich environments improve mood, attention and overall well-being. And if you can share that experience with others, it becomes a powerful tool to connect us. Immersive wellness is blending experience design, neuroscience, art and entertainment to create spaces that connect and heal us.
Experience as a Shared Future
The good news is, the experience economy is on the rise. WXO (World Experience Organization) and SEGD (Society for Experiential Graphic Design) are leading the charge. This is year, London announced London Experience Week. This is the first time a government explicitly recognized the experience economy as essential factor in a global city’s future success.
Experience is gaining more attention because people are seeking more than transactions. They are seeking connection, transformation and meaning. We are seeing more of this momentum across industries. More immersive venues. More branded environments with emotional resonance. More attention to employee experience in the workplace. More sensory activations that prioritize how we feel, not just what we see.
As designers for the built environment, we are in a powerful position to shape what comes next. By crafting the spatial experiences, we can design for emotion, not just efficiency. We can lead with empathy and intention. And we can turn every project into a chance to create something memorable for the people we are designing for.
Experience design isn’t a trend, but it’s a deeper shift in how we think about people and place. It challenges us to design from the inside out where form follows feeling, and story shapes space. When we design for experience, we create moments people carry with them long after they’ve left the room.
Experience is the future of design.