Creative Solutions

Why does design matter in a retail space? And, how does it...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:01:32 -1000

Why does design matter in a retail space? And, how does it effect your customers experience? A creative studio in Helsinki tries to answer these questions by building a pop-up cafe with suspect furniture and fixtures. Like an episode of Candid Camera, the cafe is rigged with poorly designed furniture waiting to fail. Unsuspecting patrons are challenged with the uncomfortableness of good and bad design. And the Internet is involved.

How About Gardening or Golfing at the Mall?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:55:18 -1000

How About Gardening or Golfing at the Mall?:

After decades of decline, malls across the country are being redeveloped by communities and planners trying to forge new gathering places out of vast lots with empty buildings.

Watch this video for another fine example of an engaging public...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:40:00 -1000

Watch this video for another fine example of an engaging public experience through store front windows and technology. French interactive design group MILK deploy projectors, RED cameras, ballerinas and Microsofts Kinects into Repetto for Paris Fashion Week.

An incredibly inspirational free-standing Starbucks Coffee using...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:25:45 -1000

An incredibly inspirational free-standing Starbucks Coffee using stacked shipping containers. Clever thinking has created an almost effortless gathering space away from the crowded malls. (Just add a few trees to soften things up a bit) Creative Solutions approves of this idea and more like it. We can’t quit you Starbucks.

Ideo Offers 4 Strategies For Reinventing The Retail Experience

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:11:51 -1000

Ideo Offers 4 Strategies For Reinventing The Retail Experience:

IDEO knows a thing or two about designing things that sell. Their suggestions for reinventing the retail experience should be considered money in the bank.

This is a great example of how store fronts can transform into...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:02:21 -1000

This is a great example of how store fronts can transform into engaging interactive displays for the public using off the shelf tech - and lots of creativity. Expect to hear the word ‘aware’ a lot more regarding visual display. Some choice tech notes for those who need a bit more info on how this was done.

We used a high quality projector and semi-matt foil from the hardware store to project the eyes to the window. They are rendered by a WebGL frontend using a shader sphere effect. The detection is performed by OpenFrameworks and the Kinect.
An Arduino controlled servo motor, pushing a button on the projector remote, is turning the installation on at 4pm and off at 11pm.

You knew one day those mannequins would move. Bizarre, yes,...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:49:26 -1000

You knew one day those mannequins would move. Bizarre, yes, amazing - totally.

The Hudson Hotel is a favorite hangout when CS is in NYC. Look...

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:41:00 -1000

The Hudson Hotel is a favorite hangout when CS is in NYC. Look what type of retail-bending shenanigans their up to for Fashion Week.

To celebrate Fashion Week in New York, USA, Hudson Hotel will feature a large vending machine in its lobby that will carry fashion ‘necessities.’ The luxury items will be from upcoming and promising designers from the U.S., including a diamond and wood strand bracelet from Ruby Kobo, a python clutch from SANG A, hand-made 7-fold wool ties from Public School, and a rabbit fur jacket from Jolibe. Other designers include Alice Ritter, Gemma Redux and Grey Ant.

Vending machines are always thought of as easy-access for disposable goods. Maybe we’ll see the fortune teller machines revamped into Mac genius bars. We can hope.

An illuminating illustration demonstrating Apples dedication to...

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:44:14 -1000

An illuminating illustration demonstrating Apples dedication to design theory and practice in everything they do. via IFOApplestore

The power of Life-Like mannequins

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:02:32 -1000

The power of Life-Like mannequins:

Interesting NPR Story on Life-Like Mannequins effect on shopping

Great commercial for Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre.

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:56:24 -1000

Great commercial for Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre.

COMME des GARCONS has a new retail concept shop in Japan. Looks...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:05:00 -1000

COMME des GARCONS has a new retail concept shop in Japan. Looks like a mashup of a surplus store with some new ideas. Love the density of the merchandising while everything still remaining shopable and visible. Japan only.

Empty Spaces to Creative Ones

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 07:45:00 -1000

Empty spaces at shopping centers are something we get called about quite frequently. While leases are being worked on, management and landlords don’t want these spaces to be an eye sore so we are asked what can we do.

Blank canvases are our specialty. Windows are a great form of advertising; turn these unproductive spaces into creative profitable ones. It’s a great way to highlight existing tenants, special events or “coming soon” displays to excite customers. Different tenants can be featured monthly or quarterly to ensure a fresh look.

Pearlridge Center contacted us to highlight several restaurants and beauty stores in one of their lesser frequented areas of the mall. Because the items were on the smaller size, we decided to created vignettes to focus the shoppers attention.

Some of the challenges we face with empty spaces:

no fixtures or props within space to work with
must create “window zone”-no delineation between window and interior
no lighting in window

We design a concept and then build everything specifically for the window. Participating tenants appreciate the added boost in traffic that they bring and landlords are happy that their tenants are smiling.

Check out what we did:

In June we once again partnered with Interisland Terminal to...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:17:00 -1000

Kuha‘o sculpture. Inspiring.

In June we once again partnered with Interisland Terminal to design and install a pop up shop for Big Island designer Sig Zane along with his son Kuha‘o and wife Nalani Kanaka‘ole Zane at the Waikiki Parc Hotel.

It was a wonderful and creative collaboration with this ‘ohana. Enjoy the slideshow and check out the video we posted a couple of months ago that features the installation.

**check out last year’s installation with NYC graphic designer Jeff Staple of Reed Space Here.

Planet Ice & The Tundra Train

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 06:00:00 -1000

Once our windows at Waikiki Shopping Plaza were complete, we did a quick trip to Las Vegas for this year’s GlobalShop 2011. Will post about that later after I review my notes, but I will say the highlight of the trip was seeing the B-52’s in concert at a private party…awesome!

After getting back from the show, we jumped right into designing and installing this year’s Planet Ice at Pearlridge Center. Last year we created the environment for Dinosaurs; check out that post Here, Here & Here.

Pearlridge Center is a wonderful client; they continue to come up with exciting promotions for their customers. This summer they once again dusted off their train and hosted animatronic Ice Age creatures. Children were able to ride the train through the environments we created.

DOWNTOWN
More of a tropical feel to the surroundings, we turned the center area into a tropical forest.

UPTOWN
The center court area in the Uptown phase consisted of 2 looks: Frozen, icy conditions and a tropical setting.

Our crew, hanging out with distant relatives.

Make sure to head down to Pearlridge Center soon. This promotion ends on July 31, 2011.

Waikiki Shopping Plaza-part 2

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:07:00 -1000

Continuing onto the interior of Waikiki Shopping Plaza (WSP), we highlighted again Tanaka of Tokyo, services and events and WSP’s 3rd floor Big Kahuna Marketplace.

Tanaka of Tokyo

Tanaka of Tokyo requested 2 locations; one on Seaside Avenue and one on Kalakaua Avenue. This was the longest bank of windows that we created; over 40’ wide! Again, we recreated the entrance to their restaurant and utilized their advertising images on a large scale to capture customer’s attention and fill the space.

Within a couple of weeks of this installation, they reported their traffic of Western visitors had increased! Love to hear that this type of advertising works. Yes, window displays are a form of marketing/advertising.

Waikiki Shopping Plaza Activities

Within this location, the Plaza wanted to highlight several activities that happen daily on-site:

Hula Classes
Ukulele Classes
Yoga Classes
Food Eating Contest
Quilting Classes

We partnered with local anime artist Audra Furuichi of famed Nemu*Nemu and graphic design house AirspaceWorkshop. Audra created unique characters to demonstrate all of the activities and AirspaceWorkshop then translated all of the information into stunning graphic backdrops. (*at the time of taking photos, demo was happening in the space so you will see drywall on the floor…oops!)

Big Kahuna Marketplace

Located on the 3rd floor, WSP offers an array of unique gift giving kiosks. Since the product was on the small scale we created vignettes to focus one’s attention onto the product immediately. Breaking up the window into 4 distinct windows allowed us to highlight a variety of products and themes.

We are so grateful that we were able to work with such fantastic people at Waikiki Shopping Plaza. The feedback from tenants were great and we’re glad to hear that there was increase in traffic and sales.

*Last day of install, we caught a plane to GlobalShop held in Las Vegas. Looking forward to seeing our vendors and catching up.

Waikiki Shopping Plaza-part I

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:19:00 -1000

With the constant opening and closings of retail stores, most landlords do not want to highlight any vacancies. This was true for Waikiki Shopping Plaza (WSP). They have prime real estate in Waikiki; their location is the 5th Avenue of Honolulu.

The GUESS? store had closed their location on the corner of Kalakaua & Seaside. Another tenant was slated to move in but not for 6 months. To keep a strong presence at this focal street corner, WSP contacted Creative Solutions to create display windows in the vacant space and highlight existing tenants.

This is a wonderful way to utilize unused space by featuring tenants that are located on higher floors in the plaza.

CS had over 5,000 sq. ft of windows to design, build and install. Since the infrastructure was a shell, we also needed to create temporary walls within the windows to block all of the construction happening internally!

There were a few challenges in creating these windows:

the scale of the windows compared to the size of the product;
design a window that highlights a service vs. product;
implementing signage with tough city regulations

Most of the product being featured were jewelry, beauty products & gift giving items. The height of most of the windows were 12’ tall and the average width 25’. We needed to grab the attention of pedestrians and traffic from all sides of the street with large eye-catching displays but still focus the presentation onto the product.

Next, we had to feature a restaurant without showing any name or logos. By using images from their advertising campaign and building a faux store front, we achieved the message that a restaurant was located inside.

The most challenging part of designing these windows were the signage laws that exist specifically in Waikiki. Since this was a temporary space, we were not able to place any logos or store names on the windows! We needed a creative solution to communicate to customers where the product was located and who carried it.

Corner of Kalakaua Avenue & Seaside Avenue:

Body & Skincare

Since beauty products from BelleVie are relatively small, we created large-scale backdrops for visual impact. These could be seen across Kalakaua Ave at one of the competing centers. As the consumer got closer, the clean statements of product became the focus.

Seaside Avenue Windows:

Unique Jewelry & Timepieces

For signage, we developed taglines to categorize each window (ie: Unique Jewelry & Timepieces). Since no logos or names were allowed, we created QR codes with all of the pertinent information. Now that smartphones have QR reader capability, this was a way to disseminate the name, location and hours of the store. Within each pedestal display we did add a placard of the store name-Kupulau Jewelry & Watches. All signage was removable incase the city had any issues. (*in this photo the backwall had been demolished before we could take the overall photo)

Using bold, graphic stripes as the backdrop and faux hedges to stop the eye at the product display, we broke this window up into 3 separate statements. At the time of installing we were notified that a demo crew was coming a few days later and this window would not be utilized. Oh well, it still looked great!

Japanese Steak & Seafood

Tanaka of Tokyo has been a mainstay in Waikiki for more than 20 years. Creating a window for them without using the restaurant name was actually quite a fun venture. Taking the challenge of scale & identification, we recreated their store front that is located on the 4th floor of the Plaza.

Utilizing images from their advertising campaign, we enlarged the chef images to 8’ tall. This filled the space but also offered visual insight as to what takes place at this location. The wood screens that we built were backlit and red lighting was also added behind the chef for added drama at night.

Again, the QR codes were incorporated that directed customers to Tanaka of Tokyo’s website and restaurant information. Integrating the restaurant’s mon and Hale Aina Award was a risk, we kept them removable incase any issues arose.

In our next post you will see more windows that were done on the interior of the Plaza. Check back soon. Thanks for reading!

Shop a Le‘a 2011

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:52:00 -1000

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. CS has been extremely busy building sets, store windows, prepping for summer promotions and even did a quick trip to this year’s GlobalShop 2011 in Las Vegas. Since we have a little down time, we wanted to post everything we have been up to.

We gladly partnered with Ala Moana Center again this year for it’s premier fashion event, Shop a Le‘a. This year was more of a challenge since the all white & pink set needed to be flipped to black and then back again…twice!

Along with Shop a Le‘a (SAL) week, Andy South (Hawaii’s Project Runway Star) debuted his new Fall Collection at Center Stage. We were honored to be a part of it and were up for the challenge.

Knowing that we needed to take down the SAL set and install a black set for Andy South, we approached this project in two prongs:

Be effortless in take-down and re-install
Color Impact-make sure that the set’s had two distinct looks.

Began playing around with ideas and built a small model to test out our theories.

I definitely will not have a career in architectural models.

3D render of the panel layout.

Keeping the stage a simple black. We did forgo the Andy South lettering and he added his own logos that night.

Custom printed banners.

Had our metal worker construct some new arms for the banners.

Piecing together the puzzle.

One of my favorite elements this year. We turned the existing planter boxes into a night time light box.

Behind the scenes during spring install at The Waikiki Shopping...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:39:25 -1000

Vitra props!

Temporary CS HQ

Behind the scenes during spring install at The Waikiki Shopping Plaza

Are mobile phones changing our purchasing habits? This video...

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:05:20 -1000

Are mobile phones changing our purchasing habits? This video presents evidence that shopping online doesn’t happen exclusively at the desktop anymore. Where do you draw the line between online and physical shopping?