A recent study highlights a growing issue many of us feel but rarely address—digital fatigue. The constant push and pull of notifications, social media scrolling, and virtual engagements have reshaped how we interact with the world and one another. While technology connects us in ways never before possible, it has also ushered in an age of disconnection, leaving many craving more meaningful, tactile, and human experiences.
The study explores how over-reliance on digital platforms diminishes the dopamine-driven joy of real-world interactions. People report feeling overstimulated and yet underwhelmed by the fleeting nature of online engagement. This trend has implications for brands as consumers increasingly seek experiences that foster genuine connection, creativity, and emotional resonance. (full report)
The good news? This shift opens a doorway to innovation. The antidote to digital fatigue isn’t to abandon technology but to reimagine how it serves us—emphasizing balance, intentionality, and opportunities for in-person engagement. Events and immersive experiences are emerging as critical tools for helping people unplug and reconnect with their surroundings and communities.
At Alt Ethos, we’ve embraced this challenge by designing experiences that blend the best of the digital and physical worlds. Through thoughtful, human-centric design, we create immersive environments that engage without overwhelming, providing spaces where people can connect, relax, and be inspired. As we navigate the digital landscape, our mission remains to help people rediscover the joy of meaningful, shared experiences.
Fun Event Rentals: Unplug and Engage with Your Community
Interactive Experiences That Go Beyond the Screen
Forget passive scrolling. Fun event rentals transform spaces into playgrounds of creativity and interaction. From immersive projection mapping to playful LED designs, these experiences offer a digital twist while prioritizing in-person connection. It’s not just about technology—it’s about how it’s used to bring people closer.
Chill Spaces That Encourage Relaxation
Incorporating chill spaces within events provides attendees with areas to unwind and recharge. These spaces invite moments of quiet reflection and genuine conversations, promoting mental wellness in the midst of an exciting event. Think cozy seating, subtle lighting, and thoughtful layouts—all designed to prioritize human comfort.
Community Building Through Shared Moments
Incorporating chill spaces within events provides attendees with areas to unwind and recharge. These spaces invite moments of quiet reflection and genuine conversations, promoting mental wellness in the midst of an exciting event. Think cozy seating, subtle lighting, and thoughtful layouts—all designed to prioritize human comfort.
Our Innovative Services
Immersive Digital Domes
Step into a world of wonder with our immersive digital domes, where storytelling meets technology to create unforgettable experiences.
Interactive Installations
Engage your audience with our interactive installations that invite participation and spark curiosity through cutting-edge technology.
Projection Mapping
Transform any surface into a dynamic canvas with our projection mapping services, bringing your vision to life in stunning detail.
Virtual Reality Experiences
Transport your audience to new realms with our virtual reality experiences, offering a fully immersive journey into your brand’s story.
Why Alt Ethos
At Alt Ethos, we believe in the power of meaningful experiences to inspire connection. Our event rentals are thoughtfully designed to blend interactive digital elements with opportunities for community engagement. It’s about unplugging from the noise and plugging into what matters—shared joy, creativity, and connection.
Incorporating experiential elements, such as AR/VR, live projections, and interactive installations, can increase event engagement by up to 60% (Digital Agency Network, Coresight Research). These immersive experiences not only captivate audiences but also lead to up to 80% more social media sharing, encouraging broader participation and digital buzz (Coresight Research). Similarly, city-based immersive designs like pop-up installations and AR-driven tours can boost community involvement by 40% and social sharing by 30% (Event Solutions, Learn Hub | G2). Cities like New York and Tokyo have successfully applied these strategies to transform public spaces and enhance both tourism and local engagement (Digital Agency Network).
Alternative Terms for Experiential
Interactive
Engages participants in shaping the experience through active, real-time involvement.
Immersive
Engulfs participants in fully branded, interactive environments, often blending physical and digital elements. It’s used widely in XR and metaverse spaces to create transformative experiences.
Multi-Sensory
Activates various senses through sound, visuals, touch, and more to create a deeply immersive environment.
Experience Design
Crafts a seamless and impactful user journey, blending physical, digital, and emotional touchpoints for maximum engagement.
Immersive Storytelling
Focuses on creating engaging narratives that take place across multiple realities—digital, virtual, and physical. This term is widely used in entertainment, marketing, and brand activations.
XR (Extended Reality)
Covers a spectrum of immersive technologies, including AR, VR, and MR, providing a comprehensive term for any blend of physical and virtual experiences.
Phygital
Seamlessly blends real and virtual environments, offering practical yet transformative hybrid experiences.
Mixed Reality
Fuses physical and virtual environments, enabling real-time interaction between digital and real-world elements.
Our Innovative Services
Immersive Digital Domes
Step into a world of wonder with our immersive digital domes, where storytelling meets technology to create unforgettable experiences.
Interactive Installations
Engage your audience with our interactive installations that invite participation and spark curiosity through cutting-edge technology.
Projection Mapping
Transform any surface into a dynamic canvas with our projection mapping services, bringing your vision to life in stunning detail.
Virtual Reality Experiences
Transport your audience to new realms with our virtual reality experiences, offering a fully immersive journey into your brand’s story.
The Power of Language in Event Design
Choosing the right terminology in experience design is critical for communicating the distinct value and impact of your offerings, particularly at a strategic level. Words like “interactive” or “immersive” are not just descriptors—they help define the type of engagement your audience will have, whether it’s in a physical, digital, or hybrid environment. Using precise language allows you to shape expectations, highlight innovation, and position your brand as a leader in delivering cutting-edge, transformative experience.
At Alt Ethos, we recognize that language is not merely a tool for description but a way to frame the entire customer journey. Whether we’re designing immersive digital environments, XR-powered installations, or city-wide pop-up activations, our focus is on aligning the design with the message these terms convey. This deliberate alignment between language and design ensures that the experiences we create resonate deeply with audiences and stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
While the connection fostered by these interactive experiences fuels our artistic souls, these creations have real-world fiscal benefits to companies. They offer scalable options, deeper engagement and retention, and unique opportunities for viral marketing in ways that are more effective than traditional mediums.
“Art galleries and museums have realised that built-in opportunities for “user-generated content” (UGC) can be profitable; as the artist Dena Yago wrote in a 2018 essay, “a company’s marketing plan may include a UGC campaign that broadcasts a call to action, or CTA … this response is often the creation of more content – the posting of selfies, photos and videos.”
Alt Ethos is excited to be amongst these talented leaders in creating interactive and immersive projects. When you’re considering where your budget goes for the next event or long-term project, look to us to create mind-blowing immersive experiences that will bring you an ROI you can proudly report back to your stakeholders. We love to use technology to explore how we can engage wonder and create unexpected joy and connection. View more of our work on immersive projects and events around the country and world.
“I don’t know about you, but I have caught the travel bug. COVID-19 has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health it seems, and more often I find myself longing to get away. The urge to travel is partially a longing to connect, not just with other people but with the natural world.”–anonymous
COVID-19 has affected the lives of every American in ways we are still grasping to understand. From financial stress to unprecedented changes in school and business, there is nothing our nation has faced quite like this. Now more than ever, people are longing for something to pull them out of the chaos. And now more than ever we need to make wise choices in how we travel. We are longing for opportunities to experience the beauty and to connect with what’s around us.
One of the ways people in the Northwest have increasingly chosen to connect during COVID-19 is through the National Park system. Wyoming, for example, has had some of the lowest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths in the nation. Their national parks, including Grand Teton and Yellowstone, were able to remain open for the majority of the COVID-19 pandemic with very little outbreaks. Enjoying the great outdoors has become one of the easiest and healthiest ways to be physically distant and remain in-tune with the outside world. The outdoors will remain throughout the winter months.
However, experiences in the outside world don’t have to be limited to the national parks. In a world with an ever-increasing demand for individual, and oftentimes virtual experiences, digital designs are playing a vital role in a physically distanced pandemic America.
Digital designs are one of the most affordable and diverse ways to transform public spaces in ways that would be too cost-prohibitive for traditional capital improvements to take place. For example, holiday tree lightings, modern drive-in theatres, and socially-distanced architectural projection mapping offer the opportunity to set up live experiences with minimal changes to the structural environment. Drive-thru and drive-in live experiences offer the chance to mimic the traditional performance environment without costly overhead or unsafe practices during COVID-19 shutdowns.
Experiential design has been at the forefront of our culture preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. They offer the benefits of a communal social function while allowing individuals to participate from the safety and comfort of their cars, outdoors, or from the comfort of your home. These options offer the blend of privacy and community that many are craving right now. And, there are many other options for virtual live experiences that are just scratching the surface of what we’re able to accomplish within the digital pace.
Join us this holiday season in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Where Cheyenne is bringing the lights to the holidays this year. Alt Ethos will feature two light experiences in Cheyenne this holiday season. On Saturday, November 21st, and Friday, November 27th we light up the Downtown Lighting Celebration through architectural mapping of the train depot located at 121 W 15th Street. That’s not all! From November 21 through January 1st, 2021, come by the Prime Time Holiday Drive-Thru at Blue FCU located at 2401 E. Pershing Blvd, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001.
The post-pandemic world is undetermined. What do we want to use to shape it, and how will we as individuals and communities contribute? That is the question that digital art and technology can provide if we are confident enough to venture out.
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Note: Always follow the recent guidelines from local health and state agencies as well as the recommendations of the CDC to stay safe. If you or someone you spend time with have compromising health concerns, please avoid crowds.
COVID-19 has cost our nation so much in 2020. It has cost many individuals and small business owners their financial security, while others are struggling to cope with major changes in their duties as parents, employees, and leaders. Even for those who have not been directly impacted by loss of income or life, physical distancing limitations have put daily routines on hold and replaced them with something foreign and uncertain.
However, for some of us, these limitations have sparked creativity. Humans crave connection and we need it now more than ever; but our ideas of connection are changing to meet the demands of COVID-19. One of the ways in which this is happening is through the annual Thornton Dia de los Muertos celebration in the City of Thornton.
Traditionally, the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Thornton with a festival of food, drink, traditional art, and other activities to celebrate Mexican culture. However, due to COVID-19, the celebration was almost canceled this year. In an effort to replace the live event, the City of Thornton reached out to Alt Ethos to see if we could create something new.
Our team decided that instead of looking to replace the event with a substitutional virtual experience, we’d create something entirely new. We created a hybrid design that allowed for flexibility in a time of changing circumstances. Due to the increasing COVID cases in Adams County, our hybrid event that included the drive by in the park projections paired with an interactive online engagement easily into an engaging multilayer online experience on short notice. The event information was changed and with ease we have maintained the community engagement through this important event.
We are happy to announce that this year, from November 1-3, you’ll be able to enjoy Dia de los Muertos in a virtual interactive art experience from your home and engage in real-time with friends and relatives.
We’ve created an easy browser accessible app that allows participants to create collaborative works of art from any connected device. We present a live drawing tool that lets guests create fluid visual art virtually, in real-time, and in collaboration with other users. All artworks will be themed in traditional Dia de los Muertos styles, but feature modern concepts from at-home artists in Colorado. By using trusted technologies in modern ways, we are able to keep these traditions alive. All this while enjoying dancing and mariachi music.
Community engagement doesn’t have to be put on hold because of COVID-19. In fact, Alt Ethos is able to create 4x the participant engagement via virtual events as compared to traditional live events. Our original design included a drive by/park experience, but due to changes in country COVID regulations, we quickly and smoothly modified the project to fit the needs of modern times. Because Thornton residents don’t have to be physically present in order to enjoy the activities, more are able to tune in and make lasting memories and even connect with family and friends that are far away.
