Experience Design as Activism

The debate around the notion of “Experience Design” is diverse. Although there are many definitions describing the notion, many of which are unclear or ambiguous, it stands beyond doubt that experience design can add value not only in economic terms but also in social aspects of design. Experience design increases the power of design to influence people who engage with its manifestations in society at more profound levels, through psychological, cultural and sociological ways. Because of this, one can ask oneself whether experience design can enable a new kind of design activism which informs society and creates links between people, values and morality of status quo over time, in a more durable way? Can we give people more possibilities to be active players in society beyond being mere consumers by means of experience design as ‘experience of activity’? I will analyse experience design and design activism as such, as well as ways in which experience design can be applied to design activism and aid it in playing its critical role in society more effectively. Through this analysis I will give some examples to assess whether experience design can play a recuperative role in the field of design activism. I will introduce the notion of “experience design as an activity” which depicts how experience design can do this and which future opportunities and limitations there are in this respect