How the Built Environment is Keeping Pace with the Digital World

Whether you’re an integrator, a designer or simply a label-defying creative, the EXPERIENCE is everything. Host Bryan Meszaros explores the story behind the exhibit to understand how a carefully crafted experience traps into the human experience to connect people to place.

From a historic building, a collegiate campus, an airport, a tourist town or hotel resort that spreads across expansive acreage, most every entity wants to capture, direct and/or engage their occupants, visitors and consumers. As technology continues to shape both the people, industries, and infrastructure we live within—augmenting processes, streamlining activities, and integrating innovations to achieve new heights—the built environment must renovate and reimagine itself to keep pace with the modern digital climate.

Founded in 2011, W&CO is a digital design and development studio based in New York City, that specializes in strategy, interface design, development and innovation for mobile and web platforms. With a concentrated focus on digital integration within the built environment and leveraging technologies like Digital Wayfinding, Map Design, UI/UX, Interactive Design, Development, Content Management Systems, Cross-Platform Development, e-commerce, Javascript and more, W&CO has enabled digital strategies for a wide range of clients, including the Civic, Education & Non-Profit, Hospitality and Technology sectors.

On this episode of Experience By Design, W&CO Principal, Vijay Mathews, joins Bryan Meszaros to discuss the emerging trends that will have a long-term impact on the experience factor, the rise of technology adoption during the pandemic, the pros and cons of data collection and analytics, and provides insights to unlocking engagement in a contactless world.

“There needs to be a real understanding and use case for those technologies, especially in an environment or in the workspace where these are heavily used—oftentimes, daily used—applications,” explained Matthews. “So, the last thing you want to do is push forward a technology that has a large or highly advanced learning curve that could potentially be a barrier for many people to use and to access. So that’s always the one thing we try to balance.”

Join host Bryan Meszaros on Experience by Design every other Wednesday as he explores the latest trends and solutions helping craft the world’s most intriguing experiences.