The next phase of design needs to move beyond creating photogenic moments. We need to create experiences that are participatory, memorable, and worth returning to. Generally, a moment that’s worth snapping a photo has always been a measure of success. After all, from restaurants to museums, clients always request that there’s an Instagrammable moment where guests don’t hesitate to whip out their phone for a snapshot. But how do you encourage guest engagement while also building meaningful, repeatable engagement? That’s a bit more difficult. Below, we’re exploring how the next phase of experiential design goes beyond simple photo moments.

Visually-Driven Spaces Aren’t Enough

The Museum of Ice Cream doesn’t consider itself to be like typical museums. The self-described “experium” shares that it’s a place “free from distractions, expectations, and inhibitions. Created to celebrate creativity, passion, and innovation, you can learn about ice cream history while enjoying our ice cream-themed installations.” With walls drenched in pink and fun spots to take photos, it allows guests to enter a visually delightful world high on color and novelty where they can be an active participant. There’s no mystery when you walk into the room; instead, guests instantly know what it’s about. But here’s the thing: Visibility isn’t the same as engagement. A guest can take a picture in seconds and leave with little reason to return.

Camp and Meow Wolf’s Repeatable Engagement Loops

CAMP uses recognizable children’s brands, like Bluey, PAW Patrol, and Gabby’s Dollhouse, to create immersive play experiences. Instead of just looking at something and snapping a photo, the experience is based around doing things, whether it’s meeting the characters or playing in their environments. CAMP consciously combines immersive worlds with crafts, slime, activities, counselors, and retail. Since it’s a children’s world, counselors are there to guide them along the way. Particularly strong for family memory-making, the parent isn’t merely photographing the child inside a set. Instead, the parent can actually participate in an activity with them, creating an exciting experience for the whole family.

Meow Wolf Entices Participants with Mystery

Meow Wolf is an immersive art adventure that invites guests to step inside and “uncover the unexpected.” The company describes its exhibitions as interactive worlds with underlying storylines, hidden passages, and sensory surprises, where visitors piece together the narrative through exploration. The environments are deliberately interconnected, nonlinear, and story-rich, and the space itself has become content. It contains a world filled with potentially infinite moments and activities. This combination of exciting visuals and a hidden narrative layer is the future of experiential design. It’s less about “What will people photograph?” and more about “What will make people participate, remember, and come back?”

We’re moving beyond creating spaces that are merely photogenic and moving toward experiences that are worth returning to. Immersive experiences like CAMP and Meow Wolf connect interaction to a brand, community, place, or story. They reward curiosity and create moments that feel personal rather than mass-produced. And because the experience can evolve, they give people a reason to return rather than treating the opening-day spectacle as the end product. We’re officially part of the engagement ecosystem, and brands that understand this are the ones that will thrive in the future.