Why we overlook endings for humans, products, services and digital. And why we shouldn’t.
Ends.
“The best book I’ve read about this nexus of attic laptops, e-waste confusion, and compounded guilt— is Ends.”
Ends book
Immediate access. Perfect for highlights, search, and global reading and students.
Ends ebook
Immediate access. Perfect for highlights, search, and global reading and students.
Ends Audiobook
Narrated by Joe Macleod. Ideal for the commute or the focused listener.
Some samples of reviews.
"Ends should be on every experience designer must-read list."
"Any designer wanting to disrupt their current markets needs to take the opportunity to read this book."
"I wasn't expecting to be gripped by a book that starts out talking about the sanitisation of our experience of death, but that's exactly what happened. "
"Perfect for anyone involved in delivering a product or service (not just designers), this isn't the book to read if you're looking for simple tips and easy answers - it's far richer than that."
"Seriously good read if you have any interest in product lifecycles or consumerism."
"To help you personally and for whatever it is that you do for work you should read this book."
Ends. Overview
Ends makes a compelling case that demonstrates how, over centuries, our changing relationship with death has led to the loss of our relationship with endings. Giving rise to guilt-free consumers, an overly-blamed business sector and a society which finds itself at a loss when it needs to grapple with responsibility.
Drawing on a plethora of sources in history, sociology, psychology and industry, he argues that we are taking the wrong approach to challenging the impacts of consumption and that we need to create coherent endings in our product, service and digital experiences so as to rebalance this.
The Chapters
Chapter 1. The biased customer lifecycle
Chapter 2. Societal changes of conclusion
Chapter 3. The Distancing and the Fading
Chapter 4. The Quickening and the Tethering
Chapter 5. The psychology of endings
Chapter 6. The narrative of endings
Chapter 7. Services: Trapped in divorce denial
Chapter 8. Services: Gaming debt
Chapter 9. Products: Say goodbye
Chapter 10. Digital: Unshare the share
Chapter 11. Business: A new positive vocabulary