Double Take Moments: Designing for Surprise with Josh Corn

Josh Corn traces his path from architecture and theater consulting into experience design, and how that background shapes the way he builds physical, interactive systems. He explains why he tends to describe himself as an “experience designer,” and how he thinks about technology as a means to shape behavior, attention, and feeling rather than as a deliverable by itself. We focus on the practical side of building real-world installations: working early with architects, defining spatial and operational requirements (access, storage, serviceability), and coordinating with contractors and outside vendors when fabrication needs to happen at scale. Josh uses The Sloomoo Institute as an example of how interactive environments get translated into mechanisms, workflows, and maintenance plans-and why those constraints have to be treated as first-class design inputs. Josh also talks about teaching physical making (3D printing, laser cutting, machining, casting) and what he looks for when students prototype. He describes where AI tools and LLMs help (ideation, quick visualization) and where they mislead (mechanical plausibility, “renderings” that imply mechanisms that can’t work). The conversation closes by connecting his design practice to stage magic and to research on “wonder”, including how “double take” moments can be designed intentionally. Bio Josh Corn is an experience designer and creative technologist with a background in architecture, theater design/consulting, industrial design, and electrical engineering. He runs <a href="https://doubletake.design/">Double Take Labs, where he develops physical, interactive installations, often in collaboration with architects, contractors, and specialized vendors. He also teaches hands-on making and prototyping, and draws on stage-magic principles to shape audience perception and attention. Books <a href="https://jimsteinmeyer.com/product/hiding-the-elephant/">Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear <a href="https://median.newmediacaucus.org/caa-conference-edition-2015-new-york/introduction-technologies-of-wonder-affective-responses-in-a-posthuman-world/">Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences Contact Website Email