I think I am being honest when I say that I have never eaten at a Cracker Barrel. I may have once or twice in my life, but I honestly don’t remember. This is not out of any ideological reason or intentional decision. It just never happened. Never seemed like a place I would want to go when passing by. Given that there are four Cracker Barrel’s in Massachusetts, it is hardly an option. I don’t think I’m missing out on it, but you can tell me if I am wrong. I’m not that interested in “southern comfort food,”

I had to look up what is a “cracker barrel”. Apparently it was used to ship actual crackers, and then would be an object used for people to socialize around and use like a table, as is depicted in the logo which generated such backlash when it changed. All the crackers I ever got were in boxes, I never sat around a barrel to socialize, and I never lived in the southern parts of the United States. Thus, the whole Cracker Barrel brand controversy was something I had no real attachment to, nor knew much about.

It was interesting to see this change not just evoking feelings of the brand, but also of a sense of cultural change and loss of power. Part of this is due to the larger cultural climate in the United States. Another part of it is how brands can become connected to culture, and in a very real sense become representations of it in our contemporary lives and memories.

Today’s guest on Experience by Design knows something about working with legacy brands, and the responsibility that comes with it. Matt Powell, Creative Director at Great State, like many of our guests started out in art education by getting a degree in Graphic Information Design. He explains that graphic information design is all about getting messages across to your audiences. His career involves working with clients who are seeking to build trust with and bridges to their audiences. As he notes, agencies serve a purpose as an exchange point between brands and audiences, helping clients find pathways to communicate effectively.

Matt has worked with iconic brands like the British Royal Navy, well known names in higher education, industry, and finance. This creates a lot of responsibility to hold onto what these brands historically mean, along with creating messages that speak to new audiences.

In our conversation, we talk a lot about how the ways that you breed brand loyalty has changed because media consumption has changed. Social media means that agencies and clients need to be fluid and fluent when thinking about changes. Additionally, younger generations create unique challenges and opportunities as consumers and creators of this content. We also explore the importance of creating integrated experiences, tying customer, user, digital, and brand experiences together.

Finally we talk about the importance of sustainability in web design. Despite all the changes taking place in the media landscape, it still comes down to communicating with people and the key requirement of keeping our eyes on base human needs and requirements. When using tools like artificial intelligence, we need to remember that loyalty is built on authenticity and believability, especially when representing brands that have deep cultural meaning.

Matt Powell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/observatron/

Great State: https://www.greatstate.co/

For parents who have school-aged children, it is the most wonderful time of the year when the children are gone from the house and return to places of learning, or at least someplace other than bothering their parents. We love are children dearly, but loving them when they are somewhere else is a welcome reprieve.

Each new school year presents some amount of changes in how education is done. Part of this is rooted in our evolving understanding and adoption of modes of teaching. Even though teaching is by no means a new endeavor, changes in society whether it be the culture, technology, social patterns, media, and the like are going to impact what happens in education. New material might be introduced, new topics explored, new things tried. Education, especially today, can be an idea incubator where experimentation not only needs to happen, but needs to be embraced.

At the same time, there are a lot of pressures being exerted on education. Political pressures around the presence or absence of implicit or explicit ideologies. The competition for children’s attention, which is being dominated and shaped by technology. Cuts in budgets, resulting in fewer staff members and resources. Teachers being asked to not only teach, but also counsel, care for, emotionally support, and mentor students. There is a lot of going on, and a lot of pressure being exerted from different directions. While pressure can turn coal into diamonds, pressure also can cause things to implode.

Good thing that today’s guest is with Lasada Pippen, who also goes by LP. LP had a career as an Exchange Administrator and Exchange Messaging Engineer, and if you don’t know what that is, you soon will. He was a first-generation college student, majoring in engineering as a way to build economic security that he didn’t necessarily have growing up. While achieving that goal, he still felt there was a lot missing, which has led him to his real passion of helping to create change.

Today he is a much sought-after speaker and advisor for a range of organizations, including educational institutions. We talk about how he is able to help kids who were just like him in the sense that they weren’t motivated to achieve much and didn’t have direction or vision. He emphasizes that rather than telling people how they should be doing their jobs, he listens and helps them to think differently about their jobs. He also shares the four simple questions for chasing your dreams: Is it something you love, are you good at it, how can you get paid for it, and how does it help someone else.

Lasada Pippen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lasada-pippen-keynote/

Lasada Pippen Website: https://lasadapippen.com

Lasada Pippen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lasadapippen/

I am just back from a vacation that took me across three states, one Navajo reservation, and some federal land in the southwest of the United States. Departing the humid and heavily greened northeast to the dry and brown and red landscapes of the southwest was a major transition. I have never spent that much time in that part of the country, so it was, you might say, quite the experience. Traveling throughout the region really revealed the expansiveness of it. The lack of foliage will do that as you can kind of see to the horizon between the buttes and mesas.

It also was my first time flying in a long time where I didn’t have to take off my shoes going through security. That was exciting. Well, maybe not exciting but one less thing to manage and deal with given all the other rules and restrictions that we have to face when trying to get to our lanes.

When thinking about the trip and all the jurisdictions I crossed, it can be hard to keep track of what I can and cannot do. City laws, state laws, federal laws, tribal laws, airport regulations. What’s legal in Vegas is not legal in Sedona. What you might be able to do in Page, Arizona isn’t necessarily the same as St. George, Utah. You get the point. And let’s keep in mind that all of this started in Boston, Massachusetts. The law can be complicated no matter what, and only becomes that much more challenging when you are throwing in all of these different environments.

And did I mention the seemingly constant shift in time zones as you cross different borders?

My guest today has a keen interest in making the law more manageable. Professor Demetrios Karis has been exploring ways of improving legal design to improve access and outcomes for citizens engaging the courts. As we discuss, there is plenty of work to do that keeps him and his students busy. From legal forms, to wayfinding in courts, to translating legal procedures, to legal language itself, the law has a lot of room to make things easier and create better experiences.

I talk with Demetrios, who is a colleague of mine at Bentley University, about the origins of his user experience career through this PhD in Experimental Psychology from Cornell. He shares his first job at Grumman Aircraft, where he was looking at the design of cockpits and instrumentation as part of their internal research and development group. He shares his journey to Verizon, and then to Google where he learned more about doing qualitative research and ethnography. He then discusses how his teaching at Bentley University and experiences in the court system resulted in working with the Massachusetts courts to try to improve access and usability of courts and the law. As he states, the court system is designed by lawyers for lawyers. Despite that, more people are representing themselves, which results in massive challenges on what to do and how to do it.

We also talk about his writing on the collapse of human civilization resulting from the sustainability crisis, and how we need to tackle challenges in complex systems through intensive study, creativity, and determination to make positive changes.

Demetrios Karis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demetrioskaris/

Demetrios Karis Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Demetrios-Karis

Throughout my career as a sociologist, I have come to the conclusion that people find sociologists annoying on a deeply personal level. Anthropologists have great stories about travelling to exotic locations. People seem to really appreciate psychology because they think it helps them to better understand why people do the things they do. Historians, while might be boring with their details and minutiae of past events, at least have something to help carry a conversation at a party. Perhaps the only other truly annoying academic profession are philosophers, but they may spend more time talking to themselves than other people.

What makes sociologists annoying, in my opinion as a sociologist, is that we think critically all the time about everything. It is not just how we are trained; it is how we are wired. You could show a sociologist a picture of puppies playing in a field, and the sociologist would talk about the perils of puppy mills. You could assure the sociologist that these are from a rescue, and the sociologist would talk about there is a lack of oversight and regulation of these organizations and the emotional manipulation of Sarah McLachlan commercials. You could assure the sociologist that this in fact is a wonderful animal rescue, and the sociologist will talk about how veterinary services in the United States cost more than in other parts of the world, and then launch into a discussion of the lack of healthcare overall. We are exhausting. But the critical thinking element is nevertheless important, because through critical thinking and critical analysis, progress and improvements can be made.

The person who joins me today on Experience by Design is neither a sociologist nor annoying, but is a critical thinker and thought leader in his field. Andrew Carothers has had a long career in customer experience, and has some perspectives to share about its past, present, and future. In his opinion, customer experience is in its teenage years, a kind of awkward adolescence where it is trying to find its identity. In finding its way, it also has to find ways to define its importance and relevance to organizational success and culture.

We talk about the need for CX to go beyond the metrics it has, but also find other metrics that matter. Andrew discusses the need to put CX more centrally into strategy. We also explore the implications of artificial intelligence for customer experience as a feature and a profession. Andrew emphasizes that good enough is often good enough, especially if that is all that customers want. Finally, we explore how keeping customers is easier than getting customers, and that CX can provide the path to do so, but only if it continues to grow up.

Andrew Carothers LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-carothers/

One of the things that I have come to thoroughly enjoy as a type of past time is the learning about the history of World War II in the Pacific theater. A book that I have been listening to recently is “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by Captain Tameichi Hara. It is amazing listening to give a version of things from the perspective of a Japanese naval commander who went through the Imperial Japanese Naval college at Etajima and then saw action across the war. Getting a sense of what that experience was like from his point of view very much helps to get a greater overall understanding of the war because after all, history is about perspective.

I felt the same way about the book “D-Day through German Eyes.” Perspective switching is a vital skill and ability because it allows us to get outside of our own world view and take the position of others.

My guest today on Experience by Design knows all about telling stories, and also all about the navy. Christian Lachel started his career in the US Navy in special warfare and special forces. But an injury curtailed that career and led him to attend the ArtCenter College of Design, where he also taught. His background in design, storytelling, and media and history eventually found him at the company BRC Imagination Arts, where he is now Chief Creative Officer.

Christian has been involved in creating 5 USA Pavilion Exhibits at World Expos, which requires crafting what story to tell about the United States. This includes the USA Pavilion currently in Osaka, Japan. He also has worked with the Henry Ford Museum and the River Rouge plant, which if you know labor history has special meaning regarding the rise of unions and collective bargaining.

We talk about how storytelling is about bringing together perspectives and capturing different points of view. He emphasizes the importance of deep listening and research with all stakeholders to make sure their voices are included. We also discuss how that story has to be distilled in a way that audiences will be entertained and engaged. Christian is focused on what we can create collectively as a community and world when we work together toward a common goal, and hope that this is what is communicated through his work. The importance and power of the experiences he helps to create is to provide that shared meaning which resonates individually and brings people together collectively.

Christian Lachel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianlachel/

BRC Imagination Arts: https://www.brcweb.com/

USA Pavilion Osaka 2025: https://www.expo2025.or.jp/en/official-participant/united-states-of-america/

Being a sociologist means that there often are only so many opportunities to “do sociology” in a way that has impact. It is not that sociology doesn’t have value and practical applications. On the contrary, I would consider it one of the most useful and practical disciplines. But it can be hard to combine the opportunity to do practical application while working in an academic environment. I am very lucky that I found one such place to work.

My guest today on Experience by Design had similar fortune. Dr. Ashley Guajardo first fancied a job as a marine biologist due to a love of dolphins. But a fear of the ocean and aversion to being in the water curtailed that path. Lucky for us, she found sociology instead. While at Brunel University she studied with a professor who worked at Ubisoft as a user researcher. This, along with her own love of video games, led to a research interest and career in the design of video games. As well as the current President of the Digital Games Research Association. Additionally she was recently inducted as a Higher Education Videogame Alliance Fellow. Finally, she has recently left the University of Utah and will be starting at New York University as a professor and joining the Games Center faculty and staff.

We cover a lot of ground around applied sociology and public scholarship, since along with her academic work, she also is a livestreamer on Twitch and content creator through her new effort “The Research Left Behind Podcast.” We cover how there can be fun in frustration and forming positive social relationships through gaming. We talk about how gender is portrayed in and how genders approach gaming. We talk about the perils of livestreaming as a woman, and what female content creators say about how they are perceived and targeted by viewers. Finally we talk about how academics need to make their content more accessible to broader audiences and disseminate our findings though alternate formats.

Dr. Ashley Guajardo Webpage: https://amlbrown.com/

Ashley Guajardo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-ashley/

The Research Left Behind Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@TheResearchLeftBehind

Professor_Ashley on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/professor_ashley

Stories are the ways that we can relate our experiences to others. It is the most primary form of human communication, which makes it kind of ironic that people seem to be discovering the importance of storytelling. Through stories things become memorable, or more easily remembered. Growing up going to Catholic school, I might have a hard time remembering the Ten Commandments or the Beatitudes, I could remember the gist of the parables. A good story can be transformational, changing the ways that we look at the world and ourselves.

The importance of story is at the center of my conversation with today’s guest Diane Kahn of the Humans of San Quentin. If you are not familiar, San Quentin is one of the state prisons in California. It houses approximately 4000 inmates, which is over its original capacity of 3,084. It is the state’s oldest facility, founded in 1852. In March of 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the future transformation of the prison to focus on rehabilitation rather than just incarceration.

Diane started Humans of San Quentin with a similar goal in mind. She has a background of an educator, which involved going to the University of San Francisco. That led to an opportunity to engage with inmates at San Quentin. Through that opportunity, she heard the stories of those behind the walls, and knew that she had to do what she could to bring them to the outside world.

As she relates, the program aspires to educate and build compassion by sharing the lives of humans living behind bars. The inmates feel affirmed in realizing they have something worth saying, and that people want to learn about them. We also talk about her educational experiences of teaching in San Quentin, having an audience that wants to learn, and not having to compete with the distraction of electronics in the classroom. We explore how by demystifying inmates we can create programs and heal both victims and offenders.

Finally, we talk about how the program is not in over 100 prisons in the US, as well as around the world, showing that there is a broader need to have people’s stories told and heard.

Humans of San Quentin: https://humansofsanquentin.org/

The Prison Podcast: https://humansofsanquentin.org/connections/the-prison-podcast/

Diane Kahn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-kahn-1a04b1b4/

The Employee Experience MBA class that I'm teaching this summer is in full swing, with a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time. One of the things that I emphasize out of the gate is that employee experience is about optimizing the organization for the employee. Or, put simply, treat your employees like human beings, and treat them well. Shocking I know. But there is something about some organizations and business that can be dehumanizing in their own unique ways, as well as in the ways that they can replicate larger social dynamics that exist. Taken together, these elements can be unhelpful when trying to create better experience and more inclusive environments. As a result, the simple idea of treating people as people can at times not be so simple to execute.

Thus for the next 6 weeks we’ll be going over how we can conceptualize, integrate, and execute employee experience. Not that any of this is going to be mastered in six weeks. Mastery isn’t achieved by taking a single course. It is in the doing of work, of applying concepts, of developing experience that we can start to reach the point of mastery. It is through the dedication to the concepts introduced, and the examples presented, that the students can be in the position to make for better employee experiences.

One of the things I enjoy about this course is the way in which it is directly connected to applying the concepts that are learned. We might think of academia as a place where there is a lot of conceptualizing, and industry as a place where there is a lot of doing. It would then make sense, at least to me, that there is more partnership that takes place between industry and academia. But we don’t often see that. Rather, at least in US society, we see more of a divide between academia and industry which precludes this kind of collaboration.

Luckily, today on Experience by Design, we have someone who can talk about improving organizational culture, employee experience, and academia and industry collaborations. Josee Tremblay has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, a certificate in Strategic Decision and Risk Management from the Stanford School of Engineering, as well as other educational achievements. She has worked in the energy industry and is now a Principal at Strategic Decisions Group. In addition, she serves on the Schulich Industry Advisory Council for the School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. So she knows something about integrating industry and academia.

Also, she has written a book called Us and Yet and Yet. It is a fascinating examination and discussion of gender in the workplace. Her focus was on genders in nontraditional roles. Think male nurses, female engineers, and the like. In her book, she shares her experiences of transforming organizations through leadership, removing biases, and nurturing a positive multi-gender environment. Her goal is to give people a roadmap to collaboration and working together.

We talk about all these elements in our conversation, along with the key message of no matter your background, you are bringing in a contribution which is essential. The role of leadership is to create an environment to bring that out.

"Us and Yet and Yet" - https://usandyet.com

Josee Tremblay LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/josee-tremblay/