How to Design for Memory-Making Experiences: A Deep Dive into Cognitive Science and Experience Design

A conversation exploring how we can create more memorable experiences through understanding the science of memory, storytelling, and place-based design.

In a world where digital technology threatens to dull our capacity for rich, meaningful memories, understanding how to design for memory-making experiences has never been more crucial. This fascinating conversation, recorded at MPavilion in Melbourne, brings together experts from psychology, experience design, and cultural institutions to explore the science and art of creating unforgettable moments.

The Science of Memory in Experience Design

Memory isn't just storage—it's the foundation of how we perceive, choose, and make decisions. As PhD researcher Tim Stroh explains, our memories filter everything we experience, and the fewer rich memories we form, the harder it becomes to create new, complex ones.

This has profound implications in our digital age. Research shows that using Google Maps to navigate actually reduces our memory of both the journey and the destination experience. When we outsource our attention to devices, we diminish our capacity for forming lasting memories.

"You really can't separate memory from perception, choice, decision making. We filter everything that happens to us through our memories."

The Speakers and Their Memory Stories

The conversation features three compelling practitioners, each sharing a personal memory that illustrates different aspects of how memories form and evolve:

LaToya Forsyth (Head of Marketing and Visitor Experience, Melbourne Recital Centre) shared how her memory of seeing David Bowie as a teenager fundamentally shifted after her mother's death—demonstrating how memories can change meaning based on life circumstances.

Jessica Watson (Creative Strategist) recounted learning to make dumplings with a colleague's mother in Shanghai—highlighting how hands-on experiences, personal touch, and unexpected kindness create lasting memories across language barriers.

Tim Stroh (PhD Researcher, Art Processors) offered two striking examples: his detailed recall of a specific 1976 Ramones concert that sparked the British punk movement, and his ability to navigate Disneyland 30 years later with perfect precision—showing how formative experiences can create incredibly durable spatial memories.

Key Principles for Memory-Making Experiences

1. Activate Multiple Brain Modules

The brain consists of specialized modules—for facial recognition, location tracking, emotional processing, and more. The more modules you can activate simultaneously, the stronger the memory. This means combining:

• Music and sound
• Scent and taste
• Visual cues
• Spatial navigation
• Social connection
• Emotional engagement

2. Leverage the Power of Storytelling

Stories aren't just entertainment—they're how our brains are wired to process and retain information. Research shows that presenting information as "gossip" (stories about people's relationships and social status) dramatically improves both attention and recall.

"Give people a story to tell," Tim advises. When you create experiences that give people compelling narratives to share with others, you're not just creating memories—you're creating advocates.

3. Design for Unexpected Delight

Satisfaction alone isn't enough to forge lasting memories. Exceeding expectations in unexpected ways is crucial. This principle appears across contexts—from luxury hotels that create "indelible marks" through personalized service to music venues that surprise audiences with multi-sensory experiences.

4. Remember the Peak-End Rule

The last part of an experience disproportionately affects overall memory and satisfaction. As LaToya notes from their research: "The first 75% of someone's event-going journey could be magical, but if the last 25% is a debacle, that's going to taint the overall experience."

Memory as a Tool for Social Good

The conversation reveals memory-making as more than entertainment or marketing—it's a powerful tool for healing and community building.

Melbourne Recital Centre's partnership with migrant women and refugees demonstrates how music's universal language can help people heal from trauma and form new positive memories in their adopted home. These experiences don't just create individual memories—they build community and belonging.

The Role of Place in Memory

From ancient Greek memory palaces to Aboriginal songlines, humans have always used place as a scaffold for memory. Modern research confirms that spatial memory is fundamental to how we encode experiences.

"Memory and place have been long connected," as Sue Lim notes. The most effective experience design leverages this by creating distinctive, navigable environments that serve as memory anchors.

Practical Applications

For Cultural Institutions

• Create multi-sensory experiences that activate smell, sound, touch, and movement
• Develop ritual and routine alongside novel experiences
• Design for community interaction rather than individual consumption
• Pay attention to journey endpoints and exit experiences

For Brands and Businesses

• Craft distinctive sensory signatures (like hotel scent programs)
• Train staff to create unexpected moments of personal connection
• Design narrative arcs for customer journeys with clear peaks and endings
• Give customers stories worth sharing with their networks

For Placemakers

• Layer storytelling into physical environments using both positive and challenging histories
• Create opportunities for hands-on, participatory experiences
• Design for different emotional states throughout a journey
• Integrate local knowledge holders and community voices

The Neuroscience Behind It All

Perhaps most fascinating is the revelation that your brain extends far beyond your skull. The gut contains as many neurons as a cat's brain, and when people talk about "gut feelings," they're describing actual neural processing happening throughout the body.

This understanding suggests that truly memorable experiences must consider the whole person—not just cognitive engagement, but physical comfort, emotional safety, and somatic responses.

Looking Forward: Memory as Resistance

In closing, the speakers offer a powerful vision: memory-making as a form of resistance against digital distraction and social fragmentation.

LaToya calls for using memory-making to "challenge bias and misinformation, and represent more diverse gathering of truth narratives." In an age of viral misinformation, creating spaces for authentic, embodied memory-making becomes an act of preserving human connection and truth.

Tim's prescription is beautifully simple: "Go out into the world, have an experience with someone, throw away the phone, interact with a random stranger."

The conversation concludes with an invitation to create rituals—regular, repeated experiences that anchor us in relationship while providing a foundation for novel adventures. Every Thursday night dinner, every shared story, every moment of genuine human connection becomes both a memory made and a platform for future meaning-making.

Key Takeaways

• Memory and perception are inseparable—designing for memory is designing for how people experience reality
• Multiple sensory activation creates stronger, more durable memories than single-channel experiences
• Storytelling and "gossip" are fundamental human technologies for memory formation
• Unexpected delight breaks through the threshold from short-term to long-term memory
• The ending matters most—design your conclusions with care
• Memory-making builds community and can be a tool for healing and social connection
• Place and story together create the most powerful scaffolding for lasting memories

As we face increasing digital mediation of experience, the ability to design for authentic, embodied memory-making becomes not just a professional skill, but a crucial capacity for maintaining human connection and meaning in our communities and lives.

This conversation was recorded at MPavilion in Melbourne, acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land, the Eastern Kulin Nations, for whom this meeting place has been a site of memory-making and knowledge-sharing for tens of thousands of years.