Your guests might not always notice consciously, but the details count, and they all add up to make your experience extra special!
Something that can often be overlooked is consistency in storytelling. Guests will visit a theme park, adventure golf or puzzle room for a sense of escapism, and the stronger your story is, the greater their suspension of disbelief will be. The greater their suspension of disbelief, the greater their sense of immersion, and the higher the quality of your attraction will come across!
When we say ‘story’, we don’t mean ‘once upon a time…’, but rather all the aspects that come together to create your fictional world and the situation it’s in.
Time period
Let’s say you’re making a gift shop in a theme park, and it’s set in a Wild West town full of bandits. This story takes place in the 1800s, so you’ll want everything to look like it’s from this time. For example, if you have a cash register with a bright screen, the design could include a way of concealing this. Do the staff wear generic polo shirt uniforms, or is there scope for something more old-timey? You could even get some Western-style ‘out of order’ signs printed on card, so if ever they’re needed, guests will notice you’ve taken the care. Naturally, you may not have the budget to recreate something entirely true to your story’s setting, but it’s worth thinking about these details where possible.
Lore
Think about the wider world of your story too. Say this Wild West town at your attraction has a show where the local bandits make an appearance. Maybe your gift shop could feature their ‘WANTED’ posters. If one of these bandits is especially dangerous, their poster might be covered in bullet holes. This kind of thinking not only enhances the feeling of immersion for guests, but in this instance, guests might link the gift shop with the show they saw, and if they enjoyed the show, they might be that little bit more tempted to get a souvenir!
Multisensory features
Even the smell can make a difference! Delicious smells can help boost sales because of how our scent receptors are connected to memories and emotions. However, a whiff of candy floss might spoil the scene in your hypothetical Wild West gift shop. In this case, you could opt for a smell that both supports the story and also triggers guests’ happy memories. Leather, hay, pine wood or cooking food could be great options inspiring the inner-cowboy in your customers. We often work with themed scenting company AromaPrime, who have been creating fantastical pongs since 1973!
Smells can even suggest story features that can’t been seen or heard. If one of the bandits in the show drinks a lot of whiskey, the smell of whiskey in the shop could imply the bandit is nearby! You can do this easily with sounds too, so as another example, if the sheriff in the show plays a fiddle to hypnotise the bandits, the shop could occasionally play a fiddle tune, to make guests think the sheriff is getting to work just outside!
These are all the kinds of details you can keep in mind when working on any kind of experience—not just themed gift shops! For example, our client Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf does a brilliant job at weaving its characters through every scene, and tying them into stories of local history through graphics and signage.
Our team at Dead Walk Designs is always thinking about the little details!
Don’t believe us? Take a look at some of our recent projects!
