In recent years, 'Experiential Futures'—“the practice of making manifest, one or more fragments of an ostensible future world in any medium or combination of media...”—has been used to bring hard-to-imagine, future possibilities into immediate and observable settings (Candy, 3). Yet, central to what is supposed to make Experiential Futures 'tick' is an experience which, up until this point, has yet to be studied with rigour. This project uses Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology, to explore in detail the thoughts, feelings and sense-making activities engaged in by participants during a set of student-led experiential scenarios staged at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. Using in-depth, semi-structured interviews and empathy mapping exercises, experiential scenario participants were asked to recall their experiences to the researcher.

The outcomes of this study are threefold:

I. a descriptive account of participant experiences during experiential scenario encounters. This account of participant perceptions, emotional responses and the formation of understandings, may help sensitize designers to their audiences.

II. an analysis of the participant experience during experiential scenario encounters. The analysis may help illuminate some of the unique merits and potential weaknesses of using experiential scenarios to explore possible futures.

III. an identification of aspects of the participant experience underserved in today's experiential scenarios. Designers may use this to enhance the participant experience.

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