Imagineering is the research and development division of the Walt Disney Company and is responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks, product development, Disney games, and other attractions around the world.
We spoke with Joe Lanzisello, former Walt Disney Imagineer and current Zeitgeist Vice President of Design and Production. Mobi Health News Learn about the creation process of building immersive worlds and how these techniques can be used to design experiences that improve patient care.
Mobi Health News: How does your experience as a Walt Disney Imagineer influence how you create immersive experiences for healthcare?
Joe Lanzisero: I have consulted for several different people and two companies. You may have heard of Reimagine Well. Roger Holtzberg, another Imagineer and long-time friend and colleague at Imagineering, has been involved with the project for a long time and has worked on the physical design aspects, especially the environment and environment for younger children. They asked me for further consultation on how to create the place.
Most of the work I did at Disney was designing children's spaces. I designed an original Toontown. We created a kids space on a cruise ship. So, I understand what kind of environment and what kind of activities take place at the theme park.
And, of course, we had to work with Roger to understand how that would be interpreted. Mainly about how frightening the (patient's) experience can be for young children. We've created a journey where even before they get their online experience, we work with their doctors, we work with their parents, and then once they start their hospital experience, we see what we can do for them. A lot of it is about distractions. This was part of my work in this field.
MHN: Looking to design immersive experiences for healthcare?
Lanzisero: absolutely. What's interesting is that during the pandemic, theme parks were closed, most of them were closed, and a lot of people in our industry started looking at healthcare and other types of institutional things.
It applies what we learned at Disney about learning about the experiential journeys that people go through and how they react to different types of experiences. And, like I said, we had a wide range of design challenges, from cruise ships to hotels to dark rides, so we had to think about each one, and especially at Disney, we had to think about everyone at all times. did not. It was from small children to the elderly and everything in between.
MHN: There's a lot to consider when designing experiences for healthcare. For example, consider psychiatric treatment. You don't want to inadvertently trigger traumatic memories. How can you create experiences for different areas of healthcare?
Lanzisero: I'm always going to do the same thing for every project. You have to become an expert, and you become an expert by talking to experts. So I immediately sat down with the psychiatrists to understand what the triggers were and what they were looking for in terms of what kinds of experiences they were creating. understood.
MHN: There's a lot of talk in the healthcare industry about AI and how the technology will ultimately allow us to design immersive experiences on the fly. As a designer, what do you think about AI being involved in creating these experiences?
Lanzisero: I'm not afraid of it. I think it will be a great tool as well. I remember when computer-aided design started being done with CAD drawings. People said, „Okay, that's it, that's it for designers.“ But no, I mean, you still need everything that you and I are talking about. First, you need human involvement from people who speak and understand what you're trying to solve. Next, think about which tools are most effective to use to get the results you want. And one of them may be AI. You may be talking to someone else. I might go to another consulting firm. So I always try to think broadly.