Experience designers create immersive cultural and entertainment experiences that have an impact on the mind, body and senses of attendees. Like designers in the theatre, experience designers are storytellers whose stories are told through thrilling rides, interactive museums and immersive theatrical productions. This connection between design and collaborative storytelling makes theatre and dance
the ideal home for a program of this kind. Experience designers are increasingly in demand by industries beyond the entertainment world, such as themed restaurants and retail locations, who are seeking to address the experiential aspects of their customers’ and clients’ encounters. Academy Award winner and CU Alum Jim Doyle, lead designer at WET Design, the firm responsible for the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas and dazzling water sequence for the opening of the Sochi Olympics, will serve as adviser to our Experience Design program. David Cooperstein, a senior designer at PGAV, a world renowned design firm specializing in themed attractions and interactive destinations such as Sea World and the NASA Space Museum, will also serve as adviser to the program. Recruitment for this professional MFA will target designers, creative writers, digital media experts, engineers and performing artists who will work alongside industry professionals to devise live interactive experience projects at a design center specifically created for the program. The program will enroll a new cohort, consisting of ten to twelve students, every other year for a four term duration beginning in the fall 2017.
