Experience design and the dimensions of transformative festival experiences

TLDR

The emerging transformation economy is shifting from creating memorable experiences for many to designing life‑transformative events for individuals, linking experience design with positive psychology. The study seeks to identify how to guide transformative experiences and the prerequisites required to elicit human transformation in experience design. Using positive psychology as a lens, the authors conducted a constructivist qualitative study with 31 in‑depth interviews of recent electronic dance music festival attendees. Thematic analysis identified PERMA‑based psychological and contextual dimensions of liminality as essential for personal growth and self‑transcendence, offering a novel framework and practical guidelines for event designers.

Abstract

Purpose In the emerging transformation economy, there is a shift from staging memorable experiences for many to eliciting life-transformative events for one. This study aims to understand how transformative experiences can be guided and what prerequisites are needed to elicit human transformation when designing experiences. This study borrows positive psychology as a theoretical lens to explore festivals as a prime context for liminal transformative experiences in the hospitality context. Design/methodology/approach A constructivist qualitative research design was used through 31 in-depth interviews. To ensure experience recollection, memory formation and integration of the experience into long-term transformative effects, all interviewees had attended an electronic dance music festival in the past 12 months. Findings Guided by the positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishments (PERMA) model, the thematic analysis revealed a series of psychological and contextual dimensions around PERMA and liminality that need to occur for transformative experiences, personal growth and self-transcendence to happen. Practical implications This study provides a guideline for event organisers and experiences designers to intentionally design and occasion positive human experiences in temporal and spatial liminal hospitality consumption contexts. Psychological and contextual dimensions are identified as critical factors in facilitating human transformation. Originality/value This paper bridges the emerging transformation economy, experience design and positive psychology. Grounded in PERMA, the study offers a novel theoretical model that serves as a framework for both transformative experience research and practical experience design.