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X: The Experience When Business Meets Design Hardcover – Illustrated, October 19, 2015
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Welcome to a new era of business in which your brand is defined by those who experience it.
Do you know how your customers experience your brand today?
Do you know how they really feel?
Do you know what they say when you re not around?
In an always-on world where everyone is connected to information and also one another, customer experience is your brand. And, without defining experiences, brands become victim to whatever people feel and share.
In his new book X: The Experience When Business Meets Design bestselling author Brian Solis shares why great products are no longer good enough to win with customers and why creative marketing and delightful customer service too are not enough to succeed. In X, he shares why the future of business is experiential and how to create and cultivate meaningful experiences.
This isn’t your ordinary business book. The idea of a book was re-imagined for a digital meets analog world to be a relevant and sensational experience. Its aesthetic was meant to evoke emotion while also giving new perspective and insights to help you win the hearts and minds of your customers. And, the design of this book, along with what fills its pages, was done using the principles shared within.
Brian shares more than the importance of experience. You’ll learn how to design a desired, meaningful and uniform experience in every moment of truth in a fun way including:
- How our own experience gets in the way of designing for people not like us
- Why empathy and new perspective unlock creativity and innovation
- The importance of User Experience (UX) in real life and in executive thinking
- The humanity of Human-Centered Design in all you do
- The art of Hollywood storytelling from marketing to product design to packaging
- Apple’s holistic approach to experience architecture
- The value of different journey and experience mapping approaches
The future of business lies in experience architecture and you are the architect.
Business, meet design.
X
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWiley
- Publication dateOctober 19, 2015
- Dimensions9.7 x 0.9 x 7.6 inches
- ISBN-101118456548
- ISBN-13978-1118456545
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From the Inside Flap
X=EXPERIENCE
Do you know how your customers experience your brand today? Do you know how they really feel? Do you know what they say when you're not around?
Without defining experiences, brands will become victim to whatever people feel and share. In an always-on world where everyone is connected to information and also one another, customer experience is your brand.
Great products are no longer good enough to win in business. Creative marketing and delightful customer service too are not enough to succeed. Success and the future of business is experiential and this is the time to learn how to create and cultivate meaningful experiences.
This isn't your ordinary business book. It was actually designed to be a sensational experience. Its aesthetic is meant to evoke emotion while also giving new perspective and insights to help you win the hearts and minds of your customers. And the design of this book, along with what fills its pages, was done using the principles shared within.
Welcome to a new era of business in which your brand is defined by those who experience it.
The future of business lies in experience architecture and you are the architect.
From the Back Cover
EXPERIENCE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN BUSINESS.
YET, MOST EXECUTIVES AND ENTREPRENEURS NEGLECT THE VALUE OF DESIGNING EXPERIENCES FROM THE ONSET. THEY TALK, BUILD, AND SELL AROUND IT, WHILE STILL MISSING IT. WITH X, YOU WILL LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENCE AND HOW TO DESIGN EXPERIENCES. WHY? BECAUSE EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING. EXPERIENCE IS HUMAN. EXPERIENCE IS SENSORY. THAT'S WHY THE FUTURE OF BRANDING IS EXPERIENCE ARCHITECTURE. IT'S PERSONAL. IT'S CULTURALLY AND CONTEXTUALLY RELEVANT. IT'S ASPIRATIONAL. AS YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU'LL QUICKLY REALIZE THAT IT'S INTENDED TO DELIVER A THOUGHTFUL AND INTENTIONAL EXPERIENCE. AND THAT'S THE POINT.
About the Author
BRIAN SOLIS is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders in business innovation. As a digital analyst, anthropologist, and futurist, he studies disruptive technology and its impact on business and society. More so, he humanizes technology's causal effect to help people see people differently and understand what to do about it. Brian has authored several bestselling books including What's the Future of Business (WTF), Engage!, and The End of Business as Usual. His blog, BrianSolis.com, is ranked as a leading resource for insights into the future of business, new technology and marketing. He also actively contributes to Forbes, MarketWatch and AdAge.
Product details
- Publisher : Wiley
- Publication date : October 19, 2015
- Edition : 1st
- Language : English
- Print length : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1118456548
- ISBN-13 : 978-1118456545
- Item Weight : 1.8 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.7 x 0.9 x 7.6 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #966,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #491 in Marketing & Consumer Behavior
- #835 in Web Marketing (Books)
- #1,295 in E-Commerce (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Brian Solis is a world-renowned futurist, keynote speaker, and author of over 60 industry-leading research publications and 8 best-selling books exploring disruptive trends, corporate innovation, business transformation, and consumer behavior.
Forbes has called him “one of the more creative and brilliant business minds of our time” and The Conference Board described Brian as "the futurist we all need now."
Brian serves as the Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow where he leads vision, strategy, and program innovation for the company's global Innovation Centers. Brian also studies disruptive technologies, emergent trends, and market shifts to advise business executives on innovation and transformation strategies.
Brian continues to publish business and technology thought leadership in industry publications such as CIO, Forbes, and Worth, and has consistently been recognized as one of the world's leading thinkers in innovation, business transformation, and leadership for over two decades.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find this book to be an incredible resource with insightful content, rich examples, and a wonderful road map to innovation. They appreciate its beautiful design and engaging storytelling, with one customer describing it as a profound learning experience. However, the readability receives mixed feedback, with several customers finding it awkward to read comfortably.
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Customers find the content of the book incredible and awesome, with one customer describing it as a superb source.
"Great content, terrible printing and graphic design..." Read more
"...It's the next level of relationship marketing. X is a superb source to provoke your thinking into thinking deeper and wider, thinking intimate and..." Read more
"...information but when I first read the book on Kindle, I felt the content was good but did not get what the difference was...." Read more
"...Theoretically it is nice to read book, put practically it is missing a lot of context" Read more
Customers find the book insightful, appreciating its rich examples and depth of research, with one customer describing it as a wonderfully illustrated road map to innovation.
"...book, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, is a beautiful example of this concept...." Read more
"...Here is a wonderfully illustrated road map to innovation and renovation that can help you succeed in making changes that unlock your future...." Read more
"...X is full of stellar examples and research from across the globe of best practice in the space of experiential marketing...." Read more
"...When I opened the hard cover and began to flip through it, everything made sense. How images/fonts/photos laid out brought new light to the content...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's design, describing it as beautifully designed, with one customer noting its human-centered approach and another highlighting its colorful presentation.
"...meaningful experiences, you'll want to buy a hard-copy of this beautiful book...." Read more
"Beautifully designed book. Passionate argument for a really important business philosophy...." Read more
"...of architecting a great customer experience by delivering a beautifully designed book that evokes emotion by teaching the importance of customer..." Read more
"My biggest issue is the design of the graphics...." Read more
Customers appreciate the storytelling in the book, with one mentioning that the experiences described are truly memorable.
"...I especially appreciate the storytelling and teaching done through quotes, photos, info graphics and concrete company examples...." Read more
"...designed coffee-table style book that feels great and inspired me to keep turning the pages...." Read more
"...Smart, engaging, and very actionable. Highly recommend to anyone seeking to understand design thinking and real human experiences." Read more
"...Terrific storytelling and rich examples on many levels, from high perspectives to detailed design, for every section...." Read more
Customers appreciate the emotional content of the book, with one review noting how it connects on an emotional level and humanizes business encounters.
"...source to provoke your thinking into thinking deeper and wider, thinking intimate and provocative, thinking customer experience first to give you an..." Read more
"...customer experience by delivering a beautifully designed book that evokes emotion by teaching the importance of customer experience and how to..." Read more
"...the holistic view of customer experiences and the emphasis on connecting on an emotional level, something that many companies fail to grasp and..." Read more
"...won't ruin the journey, but Yes I recommend this book for humanizing business encounters, for anticipating how to be the best option for the..." Read more
Customers find the book difficult to read, describing it as awkward and having terrible printing, with one customer noting that the text appears fuzzy or blurry on some pages.
"...And, not big enough for a coffee table book, and too awkward to read comfortably except in a recliner, maybe...." Read more
"...images to be on the same page and flows irregularly; several typographic errors throughout; and please stop yelling at me with all capital letters..." Read more
"...enjoying the content but I have to say the readability of this book is especially difficult in low light...." Read more
"...paper and the light reflects off of every page making it hard to read the content...." Read more
Reviews with images

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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2015Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseXceptional! If you're looking for a book that will give you all the answers to all your organisational customer experience problems, this book is not for you. If you're looking for a source or a compass to give you clear direction of how to blow your customers (and potential clients) minds, then X is for you! X is full of stellar examples and research from across the globe of best practice in the space of experiential marketing. There are process maps galore, case studies and behind the scenes insight from the actual creators/experiential architects/designers and people who live, breathe and execute on the experiential touch points that make people keep coming back for more (and paying for it). It's the next level of stickiness. It's the next level of relationship marketing. X is a superb source to provoke your thinking into thinking deeper and wider, thinking intimate and provocative, thinking customer experience first to give you an unfair advantage on your competition and more importantly, more steadier and predictable revenues with more happier customers and raving customers (less leakage and customer loss). This book X will stimulate your thinking into creating the gift that keeps on giving.
This book is priced at a steal with the amount of ideas you'll extract from X and the great thing about the author Brian Solis, you'll find him in social (Twitter, Facebook etc) where he'll connect with you if you need help and a consultation. It's better than the telephone if you ask me to have this level of access to one of the smartest minds in this marketing space.
Buy the book now and you'll read it in a day like me. Tip: have a highlighter, pen ready to take notes and post it notes to mark your selected pages.
Happy reading!!
- Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2015Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseI am a big fan of Brian Solis's work and was excited about his new book. I read his posts describing this new way to present information but when I first read the book on Kindle, I felt the content was good but did not get what the difference was. When I opened the hard cover and began to flip through it, everything made sense. How images/fonts/photos laid out brought new light to the content. Blown away. It's shape reminds me of a smaller richly designed coffee-table style book that feels great and inspired me to keep turning the pages. It was set up in a way where it was not necessary to rush reading it cover to cover in one sitting. The experience was one where I wanted to linger on the pages as I read. It was so easy to find what I needed as I kept going back for more info. I now have to rethink how I present my information for a book I am working on for next year. Well done
- Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2016There is so much good to say about this book. This is the rare book that you'll end up highlighting, sticky noting and filling notebooks with your ideas after reading it and then you'll promptly read it again. This is a hands on, get dirty kind of book, if you use it for more than intellectual entertainment you'll be busy for quite a while building a model that works. But, if you take the time to actually do the work, implement the findings and look at the feedback, you'll take your business to the next level. X is the one book I'll give to all my clients this year and that will be part of their required work with me.
So if it is so great, what only four stars? I'll get to that.
What I think X does best is connect experience and brand. We've all known for a long time that a brand is simply a collection of experiences that people have with a product or service that they can bring to mind but few are able to adequately make that connection intentional. This book is the roadmap to becoming the brand of choice, the brand of conversation, the brand of sharing, the brand people buy. It doesn't matter if you are a service company, a product company, brick and mortar or online, the principles all apply.
Throughout the book you'll find many roadmaps that require you to actually do some work to come to the right conclusions for your business but you will if you do the work. The book is also full of well articulated case studies that show the outcome of the work for other companies, you'll find many you can relate to. The book also does a great job of showing you how to anticipate your customers wants and needs and get ahead of the curve in delivering experiences they desire but also experiences they don't even know they want yet and that is the competitive advantage this book gives.
The book is composed of 25 sections. It begins with What Is X and continues through Design, Persona, Storytelling and finishes with section 9.0, This is water - You'll have experienced the journey fully to finally understanding what is meant by the idea of customer experience but more importantly you'll know how to create them for your clients.
The section called The Grid will be of particular importance and may be one of the most profitable pieces of the book. In this section you'll develop a customer map where every ever leads to excellence at every connection. This is where designing your experience starts. The next very important segment of the book is journey mapping, it outlines the journey that your client takes throughout their lifetime with your company. We've often explored the idea of lifetime value of a customer but rarely do we explore what the journey looks like for the customer and where along the journey we can delight and surpass their expectations with experience.
Now here is the hard part and where the book fails and I'm not blaming the author for this at all, but it is the experience of reading the book itself. The book is full color, printed on heavy stock and that is the problem. As you are reading the book you'll come across pages that have a very dark background making them very hard to read in all but the best of light. And, if you want to use this as an actual working book, you'll have to add sticky notes to the book because on many pages you can't make notes in the margin because of the page color. This seems to be an emerging trend with a lot of books but if I can't easily read it and easily highlight it, it loses a star. For a book all about experience, the experience this one delivers is not quite there but that is completely trumped by the information inside. It is worth the aggravation to get the good stuff.
This book has the possibility of helping you create dramatic change in your business, change that will lead to raving fans and profitability. It isn't a fast read and it will take work but it is your roadmap to exceptional customer experiences.
This is a must read for every business owner, customer service team and CEO.
4.0 out of 5 starsThere is so much good to say about this book. This is the rare book that you'll end up highlighting, sticky noting and filling notebooks with your ideas after reading it and then you'll promptly read it again. This is a hands on, get dirty kind of book, if you use it for more than intellectual entertainment you'll be busy for quite a while building a model that works. But, if you take the time to actually do the work, implement the findings and look at the feedback, you'll take your business to the next level. X is the one book I'll give to all my clients this year and that will be part of their required work with me.Finally A Book That Nails The Process Of Actually Defining and Profitably Developing Customer Experience For Your Business
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2016
So if it is so great, what only four stars? I'll get to that.
What I think X does best is connect experience and brand. We've all known for a long time that a brand is simply a collection of experiences that people have with a product or service that they can bring to mind but few are able to adequately make that connection intentional. This book is the roadmap to becoming the brand of choice, the brand of conversation, the brand of sharing, the brand people buy. It doesn't matter if you are a service company, a product company, brick and mortar or online, the principles all apply.
Throughout the book you'll find many roadmaps that require you to actually do some work to come to the right conclusions for your business but you will if you do the work. The book is also full of well articulated case studies that show the outcome of the work for other companies, you'll find many you can relate to. The book also does a great job of showing you how to anticipate your customers wants and needs and get ahead of the curve in delivering experiences they desire but also experiences they don't even know they want yet and that is the competitive advantage this book gives.
The book is composed of 25 sections. It begins with What Is X and continues through Design, Persona, Storytelling and finishes with section 9.0, This is water - You'll have experienced the journey fully to finally understanding what is meant by the idea of customer experience but more importantly you'll know how to create them for your clients.
The section called The Grid will be of particular importance and may be one of the most profitable pieces of the book. In this section you'll develop a customer map where every ever leads to excellence at every connection. This is where designing your experience starts. The next very important segment of the book is journey mapping, it outlines the journey that your client takes throughout their lifetime with your company. We've often explored the idea of lifetime value of a customer but rarely do we explore what the journey looks like for the customer and where along the journey we can delight and surpass their expectations with experience.
Now here is the hard part and where the book fails and I'm not blaming the author for this at all, but it is the experience of reading the book itself. The book is full color, printed on heavy stock and that is the problem. As you are reading the book you'll come across pages that have a very dark background making them very hard to read in all but the best of light. And, if you want to use this as an actual working book, you'll have to add sticky notes to the book because on many pages you can't make notes in the margin because of the page color. This seems to be an emerging trend with a lot of books but if I can't easily read it and easily highlight it, it loses a star. For a book all about experience, the experience this one delivers is not quite there but that is completely trumped by the information inside. It is worth the aggravation to get the good stuff.
This book has the possibility of helping you create dramatic change in your business, change that will lead to raving fans and profitability. It isn't a fast read and it will take work but it is your roadmap to exceptional customer experiences.
This is a must read for every business owner, customer service team and CEO.
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2016Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseOnce again, Solis delivers a very useful view into the future of marketing. While his past books were informative and smart, what stood out to me in this endeavor is the depth of research. Throughout the book, he challenges the reader to think differently about building experiences that matter to people...to move away from the push style of marketing to the pull style that is built around real humans. Building experiences is hard work, and as he aptly pointed out it takes a committed architect to do the discovery, find the insight and create something meaningful that will move people to action. The frameworks he showcases for customer journeys, brand experiences and experience flows can serve as invaluable tools to any marketer seeking to elevate his/her game. As far as business books go, Brian captured the essence of how astute brands will engage people going forward. Smart, engaging, and very actionable. Highly recommend to anyone seeking to understand design thinking and real human experiences.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2022Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseI like the first half of the book, but once the author start adding public content from here and there I start losing interest...
Theoretically it is nice to read book, put practically it is missing a lot of context
Top reviews from other countries
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Jorge Galo Medina TorresReviewed in Mexico on February 1, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars Lo complejo hecho sencillo: una formidable eXperiencia
Format: KindleVerified PurchaseUn libro cuidadosamente elaborado que mantiene dos ideas, aparentemente opuestas, claramente tejidas. Una obra recomendada para todos aquellos que desean cambiar su entorno y dejar huella de su intento. Visualizo su aplicación más allá de los negocios, en prácticamente todas las actividades que emprendemos para transformar el mundo en que vivimos. Al final, todo se manifiesta en una gran eXperiencia humana.
- Ricardo Saltz GulkoReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book, I strongly recommend you the X book, of Brian Solis (Great Value) The picture is the one I acquired!!!
Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseWell, I am suspicious to talk about Brian Solis work, since I really love his takes in several subjects, and I read his last 4 books. I follow his work and learned many things from his ideas, and love his likable and approachable personality. Regarding X, I am a global strategist in customer experience, sales and services. Therefore I understand a bit of Customer Experience, and Brian again with his unique views of problems and solutions and unique description capability, makes from this new book, one of his best books. It is to the point, go above and beyond the problems, help you create your own approuch to the detail level. Brian makes this book not just a book but and real nice experience a great reading, and what is most important for all business world today, it is discussed in details really giving you many ideas and different pathways to adopt to your business. The Customer Experience of our business, is what will define our companies longevity or failures. I strongly recommend Brian Solis New X book, blog and talks. He know how to dominate an subject with his unique characteristics. Highly recommend you!!!
Ricardo Saltz GulkoAmazing Book, I strongly recommend you the X book, of Brian Solis (Great Value) The picture is the one I acquired!!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2015
Images in this review
- Robert A. QuarryReviewed in Canada on January 12, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Customer Experience out there
Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseThe best book on Customer Experience out there. Solis hits a home run. Book design is spot on. Great learning experience.
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Cliente AmazonReviewed in Italy on June 21, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Seconda mano come nuovo
Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseRicevuto integro. Non si nota che sia un libro di seconda mano. Perfetto in ottimo stato.
- Frederic LaporteReviewed in France on April 9, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars The complexity of experience design made cristal clear
Format: KindleVerified PurchaseRelationship with customers has dramatically changed under the massive deployment of digital and mobile, giving the power back to the customer, who's eventually taken back the driver's seat. Those recognizing this paradigm shift are the new winners. Brian Solis explains how to architect the experience for your customers.