Eggspectation

With Easter just behind us, I thought I would stick to the “eggspectation” of a holiday themed blog. As an experience designer, I have to think not only of the variety of potential users of a product or service but also the various usage scenarios of how they might use that product differently, for example varying contexts (with friends, alone, outside, at work, etc.) or experiencing a particular culture or region.

Dying eggs has a long tradition in history, anything from celebrating spring and rebirth, to religious references of resurrection and sacrifice, to a set of cultural beliefs.

Today, though these references may remain, and newer less understandable traditions have become the standard (chocolate egg laying rabbits, anyone?), it has also become a period where we can spend together and experiment with different styles and techniques…simply for the fun of it. For example, I used to love to create Pysanka eggs – a Ukrainian Easter egg using a wax-resist (batik) method. Almost like tie-dye but instead of using string or elastics, you use wax. Now, I am not Ukrainian. I just thought it was fun?

Google “modern Easter eggs,” and you will see a wealth of interesting designs from Andy Warhol or Lichenstein inspired pop-art to ‘Where’s Waldo’.

So, this got me thinking. What if we consciously designed our Easter eggs to reflect our culture…the way we might have centuries ago? What should that look like?

This was my third Easter in the UK and I have already seen some unique differences between Easter weekend here than back in Canada…primarily due to the incredible amount of time off given to this holiday (4 day weekend versus 3).

If you have read my blogs before, you will see that I don’t like to make any general conclusions but share thoughts. So, I thought I would make a couple of icons for potential pictograms that might inspire a personal story for your egg.

Please share you own modern Easter egg, and I will do the same.

I hope you had a great (Easter) Bank Holiday Weekend!