Zoom
Ordinary Magic & The Art of Experience Design
What if the most immersive experience you could design wasn't for an audience — but for your own life? Join Laika DeLore for an 8-week dive into the art and craft of designing experiences that truly move people.
Most of us who create experiences — events, gatherings, interactive art — have been trained to think about logistics. Timing. Attendance. Execution. But there's a whole dimension of the craft most of us were never taught: how to design for how people feel. This 8-week course is where that changes. Before you can design a gathering that moves people, you have to know what it feels like to be moved. So we begin there — with experiences you design for your own life. Small, intentional, revealing. Then we expand the circle. You'll design an experience for someone you love. Then for a small group. By the end of the course, you'll have traveled the full arc of the craft — from the most intimate scale to the principles that govern rooms full of people. The same design intelligence that makes a perfect evening for one person is what makes a festival feel alive. This course shows you how those scales connect and provides a framework for creating moments people will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Over eight weeks, we'll: ✨ Build the foundations of experience and ritual design from the ground up ✨ Design at three scales — for yourself, for someone you love, and for a group ✨ Work with creative constraints, the architecture of memory, and the elements of surprise and meaning ✨ Discover how intimate design thinking scales into large, unforgettable experiences By the end, you will: ✨ Have a design framework you can apply to any experience you create — at any scale ✨ Have designed and tested real experiences, not just studied theory ✨ See every gathering, event, and ordinary moment differently than you do today 🌀 Live on Zoom — small group, real conversation ⏳ 5 live sessions across 8 weeks, with independent design practice between each 👥 Max 20 participants — both cohorts filled last summer 🗓 Cohort 1: Mondays from 6-8:30pm PST starting April 27th (Meetings 4/27, 5/11, 5/25, 6/1, 6/8) 🗓 Cohort 2: Tuesdays at 12-2:30pm PST starting April 28th (Meetings 4/28, 5/12, 5/26, 6/2, 6/9) 🌿 Contribution: $444
Audience Role
Course participants
Ages: 18 +
Content Advisories
Interaction Advisories
Mobility Advisories
1
Events
1
Years on EI
About Ordinary Magic
Ordinary Magic is the practice of perceiving and participating in the aliveness of everyday life — and the art of designing experiences that help others do the same. Founded by Laika DeLore — animist, ritualist, and experience designer with over a decade of work spanning large-scale immersive experiences (formerly Meow Wolf), intimate rituals, citywide scavenger hunts, and end-of-life ceremony — Ordinary Magic offers courses, workshops, and gatherings for people who want to bring more depth, care, and intention to the moments they create. The work is built on a simple belief: that meaningful experiences don't require big budgets or elaborate production. They require attention, intention, and the willingness to show up fully for the people in the room. Whether you're an event producer, a devoted friend, a creative professional, or someone who simply loves to gather people well — this work is for you.