On Bank Holiday Monday, the streets of Hastings filled once again for the annual Jack in the Green festivities. Drums, dancing, music, and green smoke drifting through the old town in Hastings and across the West Hill. Thousands of people lining the streets as the “spirit of summer” was released back into the town.
It’s joyful, pretty chaotic, but most of all deeply human.
When we first moved to Hastings 15 years ago, Jack in the Green was still a smaller, more local tradition. But as the years have gone by it has morphed tiny something else entirely. Every year there’s more people, more energy, more anticipation and even more people wanting to be part of it.
But this isn’t really about the festival. I think it says something bigger about the times we’re living through.
When so much of life is becoming more digital, more remote, and now increasingly AI-mediated… people are actively searching for experiences that feel real and human. We crave
- Shared experiences.
- Collective moments.
- Place.
- Community.
- Belonging.
- Ritual.
Things that remind us we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Because for all the benefits technology brings, and AI will undoubtedly transform huge parts of our lives and work, it cannot replace the feeling of standing shoulder to shoulder with other people, experiencing something together.
Could it be that the more synthetic some parts of life become, the more valuable human experiences feel??
I think workplaces need to pay attention to that. For years, many organisations have optimised for efficiency above almost everything else: faster communication, decisions, delivery and outputs.
Now AI will accelerate all of that again. But efficiency is not the same as connection. And information is not the same as belonging.
One of the risks in this next era of work is that organisations unintentionally optimise away the very things people need most: human moments, shared identity, collective meaning, informal connection, and rituals that create belonging.
This is one of the reasons experience design matters so much right now. Not designing more “activity”, or communicating more or creating performative culture initiatives.
But intentionally designing moments and experiences that help people feel connected to each other, to purpose and to something meaningful.
Because the future of work will not only be shaped by technology. It will also be shaped by the deeply human things people refuse to give up.
And being in Hastings last weekend, watching thousands of people come together to “release the spirit of summer”, that felt clearer than ever.
