[UXZGB] Creating Real World Experiences Beyond the Digital Screen (Online)

UXZGB is hosting its next online meetup focused on experience design beyond the digital screen. While much of today’s UX conversation revolves around apps, interfaces, and AI, some of the most memorable experiences people have are still physical, emotional, and deeply human.

In this session, we’ll explore the shared principles behind meaningful real-world and digital experiences - including emotion, participation, trust, surprise, and storytelling. Through practical examples and behind-the-scenes insights, the talk looks at how designers can create experiences that people don’t just use, but genuinely feel.

1️⃣ Welcome & Introduction (10 min) • Host: Gordon Cindrić
Short introduction to UXZGB and getting to know the audience.

2️⃣ Creating Real World Experiences Beyond the Digital Screen
(30 min) • Speaker: Joe Lanzisero
From immersive brand activations to deeply human moments of connection, this talk explores what happens when experience design moves beyond the screen and into the real world. Drawing on stories and case studies from Magic Moments: How to Create Transformative Experiences, the session looks at the shared principles behind memorable physical and digital experiences — emotion, participation, trust, surprise, and meaning. Through practical examples and behind-the-scenes insights, the talk offers a perspective on designing experiences that people don’t just use, but truly feel.

About the speaker:
Joe Lanzisero is a former Senior Vice President Creative at Walt Disney Imagineering and one of the key creative minds behind several iconic Disney experiences around the world. Over a career spanning more than three decades at The Walt Disney Company, Joe worked across feature animation, themed entertainment, cruise experiences, and destination design.

He began his Disney career in animation in 1979, learning directly from Walt Disney’s legendary “Nine Old Men,” before moving into Imagineering, where he helped shape projects including Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Tokyo DisneySea, Hong Kong Disneyland expansions, Disney Cruise Line experiences, and attractions such as Tower of Terror and Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek.

As a creative executive, Joe oversaw multidisciplinary teams of artists, writers, architects, and engineers, guiding projects from early concept through final delivery. His work has received multiple THEA Awards, the themed entertainment industry’s highest honor, and in 2015 he received the prestigious Disney Legend Award for his extraordinary contribution to The Walt Disney Company.

Since leaving Disney in 2016, Joe has continued working as an independent creative consultant with major entertainment and experience-design companies including Universal Creative, Chimelong Group, and The Hettema Group, while also speaking internationally on design, storytelling, creativity, and themed entertainment.

3️⃣ Q&A and Open Discussion (15-30 min)

🗓️ May 19, 2026 @ 19:00 - 20:15 CET (Zagreb)
📍 Remote (Google Meet)
🌐 Language: English