Designing Warmth: From User Experience (UX) to Transcendent Experience (ZX)

What I mean by good design is helping people find their natural, proper place in the cosmos. —Richard Buchanan

Warmth is an essential principle of  human connection, prioritized by the biological brain and spiritual heart alike. In order to thrive, we humans need to experience the interconnectedness between ourselves and the world around us. Yet despite the unprecedented connectivity today’s technology offers, the world is growing colder. Our daily interactions in the modern educational, commercial, and social frameworks focus on and prioritize the individual experience, and this connectivity is not the same as connection.

In all fields, user experience (UX) can be designed and warmed according to principles of interconnectedness, which support gratitude, compassion, and self-worth and can lead us toward reciprocation and justice. Drawing on Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-transcendence, presented at Esalen 60 years ago, this workshop introduces Transcendent User Experience (ZX) as a fresh perspective on UX design. This critique of traditional UX design urges a shift toward a human-centered approach to connect users to the world beyond their individual needs and to the broader social impacts of their consumer behavior. 

In this workshop, you’ll learn from thought leaders of UX design as we examine the psychology, philosophy, and science of warmth and discover key principles of ZX, including:

• How respectful conversation (not “problem solving”) is both the method and the result of design.
• How to design a scaffolding of support that lifts the user toward self-actualization and purpose.
• How to design a sense of belonging to something bigger than oneself to activate gratitude and reciprocation within a shared cause.

Design principles will be brought to life through a range of ideas and examples, from a light-hearted exploration of the warmth designed in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood to a more serious examination of the US Surgeon General’s framework for combating the modern epidemic of isolation and loneliness.

Whether you design educational methods, social services, or technology-based products, this workshop is for you. Together, we’ll explore how to incorporate principles of warmth into your work to build stronger, healthier, and more connected individuals and communities.