So many times we design for new users, with only a passing nod at existing ones. But what happens when we redesign a familiar experience, especially one that people have "grown up with"? What happens when digital destinations disappear? A strong dissonance affects people who become used to a certain digital place, a certain set of patterns, images, and interactions. When this place changes, especially dramatically, people experience loss, frustration, anger, blame, and confusion.

They don't have to. That's where UX comes in.

We'll use Melissa Holbrook Pierson's "The Place You Love Is Gone: Progress Hits Home" as a starting point, with strong nods to work by Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati, Jim Kalbach, Peter Morville, and other experts in placemaking, wayfinding, and other digital geographies. We'll look at physical analogies as well as digital examples such as Facebook's Timeline and AOL's transformation. Ultimately, we'll ponder key approaches to easing the sense of loss people might experience when progress destroys their digital homes.