Joanne Tauber Designer

The Taxonomy of Experience Process

Step 1. Submersion < Data Capture

Through personal experience and interviews with others, research data was gathered. Visiting on different occasions, such as an early morning mass and an evening concert gave varied results.

Step 2. Documentation and Texts

Through observation, conversational interviews, narrative journals, photographs, videos and sound recordings, information was collected and written down.

Step 3. Fragments < Themes

The data was dissected into fragments, which were classified into each relevant section of the ToE under the categories: Body, Heart, Head and Context. “Themes” were then chosen, such as ‘darkness and lighting’. These helped classify the fragments.

Step 4. Meanings

Each fragment was analysed in order to draw out the deeper meaning - what is this piece of information telling me about the experience?

Step 5, Essential elements

“How important is this aspect of the experience? Would it be the same experience without it?” By questioning each fragment, the information was filtered and reduced down to the most essential elements.

Step 6. Superordinary elements

Leaving behind many of the form, functional and everyday aspects of the essential elements, the ‘super ordinary’ elements emerged. These are the core characteristics of the experience, with emphasis on the unexpected and the poetic.

Step 7. Intensity weighting < ranking

Although most of these elements are important at this stage, not all have the same relevant significance. They were sorted according to their value in the experience.

Step 8. Superordinary summaries

The ‘superordinary’ elements were categorised under common names. Five words that represent the meaning of the experience of visiting the cathedral were developed.

Step 9. Superordinary descriptions

These five words were then clearly described, explaining the meaning of the experience of visiting Cologne’s cathedral.

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A black sound box

To display the results of each research topic, an exhibition was held. This showed not design results, but rather personal expressions of the insights from each experience.

The main aspects of 'Kölner Dom' experience to convey in the exhibition were the feeling of being in a vast space and being conscious of one's self within it. Using sound, not as a way to recreate a visit, but as a reference to this kind of experience, a black sound box evoked the feeling of visiting the cathedral, by making people conscious of themselves in this vast space.

The sound extracts are recordings from walking around the cathedral, from a mass and from a concert of church music.

 

The five essential elements of the experience of visiting the cathedral

Overwhelming
The most dominant aspect in all the research is an ‘overwhelming’ feeling. This powerful emotion flows over you and can send a shiver down your back or blow your mind away. “A certain moment becoming overpowered by a feeling of joy, amazement and appreciation.”

Momentary Insight

This is a moment when you suddenly become aware of yourself in a greater sense of space and time. It is as if you were looking down from above to see yourself as one body amongst the crowd of others. For a brief moment in time we see ourselves or our surroundings from a new perspective; everything seems extraordinarily clear.

Receptive

This is being aware and in a receptive state to take in the surroundings. We are aware of the details of the building, sounds, smells, light and darkness, comfort, other people’s actions as well as all of the visual aspects of the space.

“People walked with their heads in the air, some fast, some slowly. Most people are calm and unrushed and are in a receptive state, enjoying the experience, concentrating 100% and being open to their surroundings.”

Uneasy

Visiting the Dom can be a daunting and scary experience – it is a place of worship and although most of the people there are tourists and not there for religious purposes, you can feel uncomfortable and out of place. Much of this is due being in unfamiliar surroundings and not knowing what to do. Going to a mass was the most significant events in my experience to create this self conscious and anxious feeling.

Association

Many of the ‘Dom experiences’ reminded me of other visits to similar buildings. Different things like climbing the tower, looking down upon the roofs below and feeling enclosed all reminded me of previous experiences.

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