#21: The artifacts of an experience
The answer is not a shot glass
👋 Hi friends, it's Hesam with issue #21 of 4 bits. 4 bits is a biweekly newsletter where I share thoughts and musings on how to build memorable experiences.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to: Foxes - Youth (Disco Fries Remix) [Spotify].
I used to play the Adventure Club remix of this track to kickoff our incoming freshman summit at Rice. In particular, I thought these lyrics would resonate:
Don't tell me our youth is running out
It's only just begun
Earlier this week, while doing a Peloton ride, the Disco Fries remix popped up. High energy and nostalgic, it reminds me of a moment you might not be able to precisely pinpoint but know has happened to you: when you realize it’s time to do adult-like things, but you’re not ready to let go of your youth.
The artifacts of an experience
I used to travel with a friend that collected shot glasses when they visited a new city.
Whether it was on a Carnival cruise stopping in Jamaica or while we were walking by a Parisian tourist trap like the Eiffel Tower, they'd stroll into a nearby gift and souvenir shop. After a few minutes, they'd walk out, clutching a cheap brown paper bag. They'd proudly pull out a shot glass from the bag, showing me the name of the city or country we were visiting etched on the front. "See?! What do you think?"
I'd nod, smile, and we'd continue our journey.
Every time this happened, I was perplexed for two reasons.
First, I knew the person didn't drink. They had no intention of using that shot glass.
The second reason? The friend was my mom, and the only rational reason they would buy the shot glass was because it was the cheapest way they could show they had visited that city.
A shot glass from their travels that was made of high quality crystal but with no markings from the destination on it? Worthless.
A shot glass with Jamaica written on it paired with a suspicious green leaf and psychedelic patterns? Priceless.
What is it about the shot glass that keeps my mom buying more?
To my mom, the shot glass was an artifact. Something she could take home from her travels.
Nowadays, creating an artifact from an experience is easy. With our phones within arm's reach, we can snap a photo as a memory.
My mom eventually stopped collecting shot glasses and started collecting photos. Every trip we take and every family gathering we have, she takes a seemingly endless number of photos. If there are 10 people at a gathering, we need to capture every possible combination of those 10 people.
Siblings.
Parents with their children.
Only the children.
Only the parents.
The grandparents.
The grandparents and the children.
The grandparents and the parents and the children.
The list goes on and on.
Much like the shot glass, the photos never get revisited. But it's a memory! Proof that you were there! It was an important moment! Or at least it felt that way at the time you snapped the photo.
I seem to have picked up the artifact collecting habit from her, as I now keep restaurant menus when we go somewhere special. Sometimes, I use them as inspiration. More in issue 13 linked below.
Lately, I've been thinking about some of the best artifacts I've come across in different experiences I've participated in.
Rather than these being artifacts that I collected, they're ones that the person designing the experience included. Here are just a few:
After a long tasting menu at a restaurant, the chefs sent us home with an assortment of baked goods for the next morning. While this artifact lasts less than 24 hours, it's a delicious reminder of the night before.
I attended an immersive, 5 day teaching and learning program for higher ed faculty. At one point, the workshop creators brought us all together to snap a group photo. A couple months later, I received a postcard with the group photo and a nice note. It's a subtle way of reminding you of the program and the friends you made months after it happened.
On the final day of a mindfulness program I took part in, we wrote a letter to ourselves about the experience and put our address on an envelope. Weeks later, the letter arrived in the mail. While it was written by me, I wouldn't have thought to capture my thoughts during the program. It was a private way of remembering the way you felt at what was probably one of the highlights of the experience.
Last summer, I designed and led a study abroad course for Rice students in Amsterdam. As part of the trip, we visited AMS Institute, which partners with the city of Amsterdam on urban challenges like smart urban mobility and food systems. When you visit the AMS Institute, you're invited to cut a piece of string and tie it around hooks with questions and choices (where do you live? in which sector do you work? what theme do you feel strongest about?). The image at the top of this post shows a snapshot from when we visited. While this isn't an artifact you walk away with, each visitor adds value when they interact with it, creating a heat map that builds over time and shows the overlap and diversity of those visiting.
With a little creativity, you can create artifacts that can delight the people you're designing for.
I'm curious, have you come across any artifacts from your adventures that were memorable? Share them in the comments.
We did the whole shot glass thing too for a while, but we did use them. The different cities/countries did help everybody remember their shot glass for the night... that’s till you had one too many. After we moved, we stopped collecting cause we got rid of our original collection.
Don’t know if it’s cause I’m horrible at taking pictures and videos... but I get slightly annoyed by everyone taking pictures all the time at every event/occasion. I don’t think you are getting the full experience if you are constantly trying to get the “perfect” picture/video. I get it... I have a horrible memory too, so I don’t remember things either til they pop up on Timehop. But I do remember those real special meals/dishes/occasions.
As we get older, we will need to come up with a way to remember these real special experiences. Let me know what you come up with. Thinking about restarting our blog/journal... just for ourselves.
We take photos and video almost daily. But I hate posing or asking family to pose so they're usually action shots. The photos automatically cycle on our TV as a screensaver, both old and new, and we review videos with our 2 y/o when she's upset so she can remember good times.