Pop up Research Space
Moving from ‘product’ to an experience mindset
Role: Experience Designer + Fabricator
In April 2016 I designed and built a pop up space framed as a research event in the heart of San Francisco's financial district. This space made giving feedback fun and interactive. Instead of selling a product, we decided to test a product.
Features
Lifestyle Pegboard - Visitors pick their favorite card and then brands they associate with. This research will help us identify target markets for each card.
Interactive Card Wall - This wall let's guests explore the cards and their material stories. It captures metrics around the most popular card materials by counting touches, eliminating user biases they might not even be aware of.
Pattern Generator - Patented by the PXD team, guests can generate unique patterns on a touch screen to further customize their Elements card.
Card Bazaar - A place for qualitative 1:1 user interviews relating to the overall design of the card and various use cases.
Retail Safari
We spent a few weeks in New York exploring stores that were not only product focused but experience driven. These spaces taught you something new, enabled you to express your individuality, allowed you to make their space yours, and established a community of dialogue & sharing.
3X1 - Bespoke denim shop showcases behind the scenes production process
Casper - Allows customers to take a nap in store on their demo mattresses
Moodboard developed from retail safari
Production
To establish tone, I mocked up a scale model of a Capital One Cafe and rendered it to show what a pop up could look like. Our final pop up happened at a different location but the vibe is consistent. Wood objects with subtle pops of color, black accent walls, and a focus on explorative experiences.
Fabrication
I created all of the custom pieces from design, through iteration, to production. In addition, the space required a lot of modifications. We put up new walls, painted floors and stairs, and modified various objects that required remodeling. It was a complete redesign of an existing store which happened over the course of 3 weeks.
Warby Parker - Product focused with peripheral goods that amplifies their culture
Objectives
Gain valuable user insight to understand what cards people have an affinity for and why, testing people's response to the branding, and also gauge interest of the cards by the number of signups. We wanted to create an approachable space where people feel comfortable having an honest conversation about their life and money.
Understand people's "lifestyle" and values
Validate and test card desirability
Experiment with a retail experience for a bank
Normal - 3D printed headphone company, invites customers into a learning space
Going live!
We created an interactive wall where visitors could touch each card to learn about the unique materials the cards are made of. Then guests could sign their name on screen and project their signature over the wall, implying ownership and uniqueness.
We recreated the pop up as a modular installation for deployment in Virginia the following month to share the experience with executives
Feedback
We received so much valuable insights, we were floored. People loved the experience and they liked the card... a lot. With 98% favorable opinions from guests. None of our visitors’ card material choices fit into a lifestyle “box” — everything was very individually defined. Based on the pop up we developed five personas and mapped them to Maslow's hierarchy to better communicate a rollout strategy to stakeholders.
"The rectangle card makes me kind of sad now."
— Pop-up attendee
Millennials gather experiences like people used to gather goods, redefining the meaning of ‘luxury.' We found that the Elements card amplifies their experiences and that our space accurately matched the experiential qualities of the card.
Murals: wallandwall.com