603 - Brief 04 - Research

After seeing pics of the exhibition space I wanted to do some of my own research into the event and what environment I will be designing to fit within..



NAPAPIJRI IS COLLABORATING ON EVENTS FOR ITS OUT OF NOWHERE COLLECTION
The events run over six consecutive weeks in East London

To celebrate its SS18 Out Of Nowhere collection, Italian casual wear label Napapijri has launched a program of events at its new pop-up space at 149 Shoreditch High Street, which will be open for the next six weeks.

Inspired by defying cultural trends that purvey the brand's aesthetic of youth, diversity, confidence and originality with a global mindset, the six-week-long event sees the label team up with a selection of independent London based titles including Noisey, Polyester, BRICK, intern, HUCK and Little White Lies as it translates the campaign message of future positivity and the idea of being a global citizen.

Event Space: 

Oversized logo branding in a mix of graffiti and window vinyl masks the fascia of the building, which has been coated in fluorescent orange. Hoarding-style banners cover the upper floors, emblazoned with images from the campaign.

In-store, the boundary of the store is wrapped in graphics simulating an arid landscape, offset with bold neon signage. 

Hand shaped earth-like terrain lines the perimeter of the space, with high impact screens planted into the mounds.

With weekly events and parties in collaboration with Vice, the space is designed to be multi-functional and interactive – an arc of monolithic mirror beams emerge to create a ‘selfie area’ whilst a DJ booth and bespoke furniture can be repurposed for a number of uses.

Began looking at other examples of giant lcd screens can fit into public spaces, and how these can infer moods and catch attention

- we want to be subtle and mood controlling however

- not too bold and in your face, but acting as background graphics

Not quite on the same scale but made me consider back to the giant digital advertising in Time Square - even in one of the most over-saturated ad spots in the world - subtle but intricate motion graphics are what catches people eye as they pass by.

EVENT SPACE GRAPHICS? 

BACKGROUND GRAPHICS / ADS IN PUBLIC SPACES?

Research into Designing within a Public Space:

The often-unexpected presence of digital experiences in the real world allows the designer to have a greater intellectual and emotional impact on the end user.
That’s why it’s incredibly important to understand the nuances of public spaces and the considerations for designing experiences within them.

Design For Different Levels of Engagement
When designing within a public space, you have to take into consideration that people have various attention spans. Some may want to spend time engaging with your environment, while others may just be passing through. Despite their motives, you should be designing all experiences for different levels of engagement. That means having short, impactful experiences that reward longer interactions but don’t require them.

What does engagement mean experientially? It means that the audience should forget that they are an audience. While designers should aim to capture attention, you don’t necessarily need people to be fully immersed. For a brand, you should be aiming to put a smile on someone’s face, which could change a brand perception within just a few seconds.

In my case, I am designing to go within a busy and vibrant space dedicated to either the focus talks or evening parties/social get togethers - the only other category is for passers by throughout the day. This means there will be a lot of various moods the graphics need to fit in to - so it is essential I do not over-complicate and make it too busy to distract from everything else going on in the space. I am aiming to simply introduce each collection of images or introduce the talks whilst always linking back to the Intern brand, allowing the vibrant images to sit as the main focal point of the graphics - whilst still only serving as a relevant backdrop / context-provider.

Give People Super Powers
People can be made to feel powerful by having a clear cause and effect on their immediate environment. Even the smallest of inputs can result in impressive outputs. When designing for physical space, the key is to create moments where a minor interaction results in a major moment – people love to see that they’ve make an impact.

For example, at CES in 2012, Stimulant partnered with Intel to create the “Connect to Life Experience,” a 168-foot-wide interactive 3D virtual life simulation that spanned the entirety of Intel’s booth.

Would love to push the interaction levels as far as I can within the space - although this is out of my control! Vice have allowed for interaction through other forms anyway, including various photoshoot areas (around the mirrors, and also with an interactive gif maker that friends can try out and then send to themselves) - So my job is to simply provide the simplistic roll-overs to support the other elements of the space.

Be Concise
When designing for in a public space it needs to achieve a new level of simplicity and immediacy in order for people to “opt in” and want to engage with the experience design. You must be ultra concise in your design to reach the people who will just breeze by. But, even a breeze by can result in a good impression.

Again, I just need to ensure I am designing in a simplistic yet hard-hitting and impactful way which represents the brand of Intern - simple yet charismatic.

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Intern Identity:

To ensure I am staying consistent with Intern's identity:

Simple, but hard-hitting serif logo

- Partnered with various styles of Baskerville which are used throughout the articles / features to break up and prioritise content.