booklet final agata

Home-office store Final design assignment SS 2011

Agata Pilip

Piet Zwart Institute for Postgraduate ResearchInterior Architecture and Retail Design

home-office store.final assign-ment.

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Home-Office StoreDesign Task and Briefing

Market ResearchGrowing Amount of Self-EmployedGrowth of E-CommerceNew role of social mediaConclusionCompetitors: Rental UnitCompetitors: Service UnitCompetitors: Store UnitCompetitors: Web Unit

BrandingTarget Group and Brand AnalysisSuperfair: brand mission, vision and promiseSuperfair: sub-unitsCommunication - graphic languageAdvertisement postersPackaging and in-store communicationInternet and new media

DesignLocation: Nieuwe Binnenweg - Rotterdam WestMoodboardDesign ideasWindow displayCirculation and organization within the store.Store planSuperShop areaSuperService areaSuperRental area

Content:

4 | Superfair. Home-Office Store.

home-office store.design task and briefing.

Agata Pilip | 5

Develop a new service retail concept for a Home Office Store which provides custom-ers and self-employed people with many services. The for-mat is around 200 m2 and is located in nearby city centers.

The formula is service driven and will provide customers with the following services:- rental services - flexible workspaces- copy and print- wrapping and send off- post and packages- courier services- telecom- office supplies- mailboxes- pick up point

The new formula will be opti-mally distinctive in a saturated and amorphous branch. The on-line discipline must be an integrated component of the retail concept to be developed.

We want to set-up a new home office store formula that supports small artisan and designer brands by deliver-ing easy e-commerce so-lutions and offering them a wide range of additional services. We are looking for a concept on how to position the brand on the market and how the new store formula will reflect the brand values.

Starting a new business and introducing it to the market, we want to set some market-ing goals to clarify the path that our endeavour should follow. First of all, we want to building up a strong custom-ers network, we want to offer them a platform for networking and getting in touch with each other and want to deliver them solutions that are easy to use and to adjust for their business ideas.

Design assignment:

Briefing: Marketing goals:


marketresearch.trend 1:growingamount of self-employed.

Agata Pilip | 7

Researching the market we spotted three trends and tendencies that lead us to conclusion, that the target group that we choose a very promising one and is certainly makes sense to address this group.

Due to financial crisis, where many vacancies were reduced, suspended or canceled, many people who lost their

permanent jobs started to work for themselves. This form of working became very popular. In NL the tipping point of the increase found place around 2007 and now it’s more steady, but still increasing1.Regarding to the FreelanceSwitch’s survey conducted among over 3,700 freelancers around the world, the most popular field

of expertise in this group of people are all kinds of creative occupations2.This tendency is effecting also in increasing number of so-called co-working spaces where freelancers can rent a desk, like Seats2Meet (seats2meet.com) in the Netherlands, Betahaus in Berlin (photo below) or Combinat 56 in Munich.1. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek Netherlands / www.cbs.nl2. The Freelance Statistics Report. Aaron Cruikshank, Rockable Press 2008

Market Research Growing Amount of Self-Employed


marketresearch.trend 2:rapidly growinge-com-merce.

Agata Pilip | 9

On-line sales seem to become a rapidly growing part of the retail marker. Let’s take the books retailer Borders Group: in spite of their recent bankruptcy, they can claim e-commerce as a bright spot in an otherwise dour year financially in 2010. In their case the e-commerce sales in this year grew 19.5% as same-store sales decreased 10.5%1. There is already a very strong player on the books retail market: Amazon’s sales grew up rapidly, while physical chain

stores of other bookseller’s sales decreased.Also eBay, very popular C2C e-commerce solution, grows rapidly: sales on eBay rise 8.5%, its revenue increased 15.9% and profits jumped 19.6% in the first quarter of 2011.1 This all shows that the e-commerce increases and with it the need for good sending and courier services is steady growing.Those tendencies reflect also in the development of postal services:

After dropping from 0.5% in the first quarter of 2008 to 3.4% in the thirdquarter, compared to the same periods in 2007, domestic parcel volumesrecovered 1.1% on a year-to-year basis in the fourth quarter. Experts say theincrease could be due to record e-commerce sales during the last quarter of2008 or strong resilience of online sales to the crisis observed in severalcountries.2

1. http://www.internetretailer.com/2. Universal Postal Union Press Release Thursday 02 April 2009 | http://www.upu.int/

Growth of E-Commerce


marketresearch. trend 3:new role of social media.

Agata Pilip | 11

Asked what would they do with 15 minutes of free time, the group of 18-25 years old would spend it checking out their favourite social networking sites (45%) than watching TV (9%), reading (6%), playing video games (5%) or talking on their mobiles (4%) 1. But they are using those social media platforms not only to “socialize“ with each other or find new friends. 35% see social networks as one of the key places to discover a new band, pop star and DJ and 13% say that social destinations were the best place to look for creative ideas, or to plug into the more trendy, unusual

and bizarre aspects of global culture.1 Moreover, many now see social media as a way to put their commercial, creative and cultural skills to profitable effect. 12% states, that they already made money using social media, and 14% users of MySpace are keen to create money-making sites or schemes. A good example of it is the person of 20-years old Paul Griffiths, who build up the empire of his brand Babycakes using Myspace: ‘In 2007 I started designing t-shirts. For my first sale I placed an order for 200 t-shirts to be printed and I’d sold all them through my MySpace page before they were back

from the printers. That’s how Babycakes was born. Since then I have processed 10,000 orders across the world.’

Those facts lead to the conclusion, that social-media become ‘culturpreneurial’ platforms that are increasingly used to manufacture, market, distribute and retail brands, products and services. As Raoul Shah of Exposure, a PR and marketing specialist, says: ‘The brand is alive and kicking – it’s just no longer only controlled by big corporations and traditional media outlets.’2

1. MYSPACE 08 : PEOPLE. CONTENT. CULTURE. Report by The Future Laboratory, London 20082. THE TRIBE : SLASH / SLASH Generation by Sarah Bentley/The Future Laboratory, London 2008

New role of social media

THE:FUTURE:LABORATORY 56:57MYSPACE08:PEOPLE.CONTENT. CULTURE.

‘Internet stars are the next rock stars.’

‘In 2007 I was working in telesales and in my own time I started designing t-shirts. For my first sale I placed an order for 200 t-shirts to be printed and I’d sold all them through my MySpace page before they were back from the printers. That’s how Babycakes was born. Since then I have processed 10,000 orders across the world through my PayPal account, I’ve moved into an office – which I have nearly outgrown – and Babycakes is now stocked in stores in New York, Sydney, Manchester and Belfast,’ he says. ‘I’ve employed three of my best mates and my mum is going to quit her job to work for me.’

Griffiths has also set up Secret Parties Limited, which appears under the name ‘The Club Kids’ on MySpace. ‘We get up to 1,000 friend requests a day but only ever confirm a small number of the coolest MySpacers. If you’re a ‘Club Kid’, you get a special code for discounts on Babycakes clothing and for some club nights in Manchester.’

Griffiths has a substantial 65,000 friends, and tells us he gets up to 500 requests a day and over 1,000 messages. ‘Sometimes my sister has to help go through everything,’ he says. He also tends to get recognised at clubs or gigs but says that his celebrity status was really unintended. ‘I’d rather be known for Babycakes clothing. Quite freakily, I noticed that people were pretending to be me on their MySpace profile – I had to state that I was the real Paul Griffiths and list all the imposters on my blog.’ In many ways the imposters were a good thing, he says, since most of them were promoting Babycakes clothing, ‘but it also feels strange’, he adds.

Lovers of Babycakes often attach wallpapers and images to their MySpace page, ‘while some finish their profile name with ‘cakes’ to show their loyalty. ‘I even have a fan page with over 40,000 friends’.

Griffiths designs all of the t-shirts by hand or with Photoshop or a combination of the two. ‘I am completely self-taught,’ he says. ‘I normally design a new t-shirt a week, and everything the customer sees has been approved by me – I have complete control over the visuals and marketing of the Babycakes brand. I also model the clothes

– we did cast proper models recently but it didn’t look right. I prefer the DIY, down-to-earth look.’

For 2008, he plans to launch Babycakes TV. ‘We’re going to install a webcam in our office to allow people to watch the designing and production of the clothes and speak to me and the team,’ he says, concluding that ‘Internet stars are the new rock stars’.

Slash/Slash kid : Paul Griffiths www.myspace.com/soundfxsandoverdramatics

Since March 2007, Paul Griffiths has created a business empire through MySpace that includes a fashion brand, a promotions company and a photography studio. This has propelled him to MySpace celebrity status where ‘teenage girls dream of meeting him while teenage boys want to be him’.

Aged just 20, he receives up to 500 friend requests a day, his Babycakes line has sold 10,000 t-shirts globally, clusters of MySpace imposters claim to be him and he’s employed his best mates and his mum to work on packing, despatching and tracking his Babycakes t-shirt line. Paul is an original member of the Slash/Slash generation.

‘In 2007 I started designing t-shirts. For my first sale I placed an order for 200 t-shirts to be printed and I’d sold all them through my MySpace page before they were back from the printers. That’s how Babycakes was born. Since then I have processed 10,000 orders across the world.’

Paul Griffiths (20)


marketresearch. trends - conclusion.

Agata Pilip | 13

Observing the mentioned market- and social trends we came to the conclusion that we want to address our store- and brand formula to a group of self-employed creatives, who maintain or want to start a small online retail businesses (mostly one-person brand) and promote it using web tools, i.e. social media.

Especially the group of so-called Slash/Slash generation will become the focal point of our interests. Who are they? Slash/Slash Kids are creative multi-skillers and ‘culturpreneurs’ who define

the DIA (Do-It-All) mindset. They don’t just design clothes but style, DJ, present and act and have no qualms about self-promotion and putting their image ‘out there’.1

To step towards the needs of our customers and following this multidisciplinary approach, in our home-office store we need to offer wide range of services and product that will make creating, producing, distributing, promoting and retailing their products easier and more simple, online as well as in physical space.

To lead the customer through the whole range of offered products and services, we divide them in 4 subunits:

RENTAL UNIT: flexible office and meeting spaces, and also equipmentSERVICE UNIT: postal, wrapping, sending, printing servicesSHOP UNIT: retailing of office supplies products, retail boxes to rentWEB UNIT: webshop and networking platform

Conclusion - Target Group Products and services

1. THE TRIBE : SLASH / SLASH Generation by Sarah Bentley/The Future Laboratory, London 2008


To step towards the needs of our customers, we need to offer them wide range of services and product that will make creating, producing, distributing, promoting and retailing their prod-ucts easier and more simple, online as well as in physical space. The home-office store is a hy-brid of existing store formulas and services, so to illustrate better how the subunits should work, I will illustrate it with examples of existing com-petitors and personas – scenarios.

marketresearch. competi-tors.

Agata Pilip | 15

We will offer to our customers a range of rental opportunities. Independent designers can rent here not only a flexible work space, a conferece- or meeting room, but also all kind of equipment, like projectors, lighting equipment, cameras etc. The owners of retail brands have the possibility to rent small storage spaces to store their stock for a short period of time.

Competitor:Werkhotel (Rotterdam) is a complex of creative spaces to rent, with smart price –concept “a la carte“ but it is too anonymous, offering small variety of services, impersonalized – this will be different at our store.

Persona Scenario: Michael, 34, IT-specialistNeeds: Mostly works for clients in their headquarters, but sometimes needs to host smaller clients - for this occasions he rents a meeting space in home office store. Needs to print invoices for his client and re-order stationery for himself from time to time. He has a very a busy schedule and needs a (ideally: online) tool to maintain it.Uses: meeting boxes rental, printing services, rental of equipment (projectors for presentations), office supplies, website – calendar function

Rental Unit

Agata Pilip | 17

Independent creatives, while marketing, promoting and retailing their products, need to use many services; our home-office store comes torwards their needs and provider them with all they need. To sell products online, our customers need postal and wrapping services in the first line. They have also posibility to customize their packaging and wrapping with their brand’s logo, order stationery, print their marketing material or retail items (if it applies to their brand’s profile).

Competitor:TNT (Rotterdam) offers wide range of send-off, banking, retail services. Very clear visual communication and customer-friendly interior, but too much space there is dedicated to office supply retail - for specific products people tend to go to specialists shop.

Scenario: Kate, 32, art historian and PhD student, mother of a 2-year oldNeeds: She loves books, clothes and original accessories, but since her little girls was born she has barely time for shopping. She likes shopping online and orders loads of books on Amazon. For her PHD she needs to make lots of quick prints and sometimes she needs an additional equipment for her research.Uses: mailbox services, printing services, renting (photo equipment), buys designers items from “retail boxes“ when she is around

Service Unit

Agata Pilip | 19

Retailing their products, our customers use most often some internet platforms or websites. But why not to give them the opportunity to show their products in a physical retail space? At the home-office store they can rent so-called retail boxes for affordable prices to show their products to broader audience. They can also buy office supplies and arts and crafts materials for themselves at the home-office store.

Competitor:The Hubshop (Rotterdam) is a concept based on this retail boxes to rent where small scale entrepreneur offering products or services ‘with a good story’ can be displayed. The idea is smart and attractive for young brands with small financial resources, but there is no other reason to go then buy some small stuff, which makes the number of visitors very limited.

Scenario: Steve, 25, graphic designer, DJ, event promotion specisalists, runs his own T-Shirt brand (on-line sales)Needs: Comes to home-office store approximately once a week when he really wants to work intensively or meet a client/peers. He sends out the t-shirt orders quite often within a week, that’s why he rented a small storage space in the home office.Uses: rents a retail-box, buys copics and other artistic pens and sketching material, uses printing services, send-off services, wrapping services (with customized packaging option) and easy to customize web-shop on the internet platform

Store Unit

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The key to successful e-commerce is a good and easy to use website. To build one it usually takes time, money and skills. Also the online-payment process can be complicated if not supported by professionals with wide IT knowledge.We want to offer our customers a easy-to-custom webshop templates. Beside of that we would like to build-up a strong community of creatives around it.

Competitor:bigcartel.com is a website that helps young creatives to retail their art: easy to set-up a webstore without specific IT skills; smart name; promoting small brands but they don’t offer any physical retail space.

Scenario: Julia, 28, fashion designer, writer and bloggerNeeds: She is a member of a fashion-designer collective and within the collective, besides of designing, she does also the PR- and communication work, so she makes use of website networking platform. She sells her designs online.Uses: e-workshops and network platform, webstore, sending out services, sometimes flexible work space

Web Unit


branding. target group and brand analysis.

Agata Pilip | 23

Our main target group are self-employed creatives, who maintain or want to start a small online retail businesses (mostly one-person brand) and promote it using web tools, i.e. social media.

To set-up brand values and define the brand-attributes, I used a popular retail branding tool: the Kapferer Model (a.k.a. the brand prism).

The values and attributes set and described in this model are result of interviews conducted within small-scale design-entrepreneurs and designers trying to market their brands.

- Home-office storeand flexible work spaces- Open

- A place that makes the products accessible and gives them a “cool“ touch

- In his/hers late 20ies-30ies- Trendy and fashionable

- Inspiring- Friendly- Lighthearted- Approachable- Funny

- Creativity always comes first- Not afraid of being different

- Innovative- Creative- Non-conformist- Openminded

Target Group

Picture of sender

Picture of receiver

Ext

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alis

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n

Inte

rnal

isat

ion

physical facets

personality

relationship culture (values)

reflection self-image


branding. brand, mission and vision.

Agata Pilip | 25

The new store formula, a hybride of office- and retail space, creative hub and online platform, will be named Superfair.

The first part of the name -‘Super’ - indicates something of high value, something extraordinary or even - having superpowers (home

office becomes a superhero for the users, brings great help for the starters). ‘Fair‘ – is a physical place where people exchange goods or meet and enjoy themselves. It can also mean ‘according to the rules’ and underlines fair competition between the users. ‘Fair‘ also brings to mind good value for money.

Superfair is not only a home-office store. It’s a network of creative people developing their ideas into products with a true story behind it.

We support young creative entrepreneurs by offering them wide variety of products and services, easy to operate and simple to maintain, customized for their needs, for fair prices.

For us your creativity and talents always come first. Whatever you need to make your creative vision come true – or even you didn’t think you need – we have it!

Superfair - we are your everyday hero

Brand mission Brand promise


concept. brand’s subunits.

Agata Pilip | 27

To step towards the needs of our customers, we need to offer them wide range of services and product that will make creating, producing, distributing, promoting and

retailing their products easier and more simple, online as well as in physical space.

To make the customers find quickly services they need,

the brand has been divided into four sub-units. Every unit has a significant colour, being used consequently in printed communication, as well as within the store.

Superfair - subunits

Offers wide range of services: postal, wrapping, sending, printing etc.

post-box, pick-up, sending, courier;

wrapping and packaging with a possibility to customize the packaging;

scanning and printing in different qualities.

It’s a unit that includes all retail areas in the shop.

retail display boxes for rent where creatives can present their work;

office supplies, stationery (also customized), all kind of d-i-y articles an tools (mini emboss machines, mini letterpress, mini silkscreen devices).

Is an internet platform.

social network of creatives and micro-scale retailers;

easy to customize and maintain webshop;

advertising new job opportunities,

blog informing the users about newest trends

It’s a unit that offers wide variety of rental services.

rental of flexible office spaces/desks;

rental of meeting spaces;

movable goods like projectors, cameras, laptops;

small storage spaces

Rating

Sketch #:Resolution:

DateProject Name

superjobs design webdesign fashion branding

supercart what’s that? create your own terms and conditions

network

blog

about contact

log-in

You have creative mind and translate your ideas into products with a true story behind it.

We are your everyday superheroes. And yes, we have superpowers. We will use them to support you as for us your creativity always come first.


concept. brand communi-cation.

Agata Pilip | 29

The tone of voice of the communication will be informal. It will reflect in using of informal language. Inside the shop and on the promotion material are used quotes and sentences that are smart, wise and funny and also motivating. The graphic language will be “cool” and retro, using retro

colours and bold, stylized retro typefaces.

The repeating motive of a super-hero will lead the customers through the whole communication, beginning with printed material and ending with the interior of the store.

Communication - graphic language


concept. promotion campaign and media presence.

Agata Pilip | 31

On the advertisement posters, kept in simple corporate colours, will be shown super-hero characters with simple tag-lines reflecting brand promise and values.

Besides of those tag-lines, name of the store and eventually a website address/QR code, there will be no further clarification on the character of the business. Posters should evoke

curiosity and a “buzz“ - people will start to talk about them which will create the “word of mouth“ promotion around Superfair.

Advertisement posters


concept. packag-ing and in-store communi-cation.

Agata Pilip | 33

The packaging, price tags and similar material will be designed according to particular sub-division housstyle. It will use a superhero symbolic, language and style to make the customer getting a feeling of gaining “superpowers“ while working at Superfair.

The relation between customers and staff-member is one-to-one. Employees of Superfair wear t-shirts with a superhero emblem to highlight their willingness to help and support the customer by everything he/she needs.

Packaging Staff

Like a superhero I’m always there for you, anytime you need me...

...or just for a friendly chat about what is going to be the ‘next big thing’ in arts, film or music!


concept. internet presence.

Agata Pilip | 35

The crucial role in Superfair business plays it’s website and the community build around it. On the website the customers can find all details to each Superfair sub-units, as well as join the community of other creatives to collaborate, co-work, network with them or just to get together on a social level. They can also set-up and maintain their own webstore, put or read job advertisements, join design contests etc.

Next to the website Superfair will offer a smartphone application, with a calendar function, access to the webstore and Superfair network. There is also possibility to scan the physical environment of the store and check with the application, who is in the store on a particular day what is their occupation.

Internet and new media

Rating

Sketch #:Resolution:

DateProject Name

about contact

log-in

You have creative mind and translate your ideas into products with a true story behind it.

We are your everyday superheroes. And yes, we have superpowers. We will use them to support you as for us your creativity always come first.

design webdesign fashion branding

what’s that? create your own terms and conditions


design. location.

Agata Pilip | 37

The first branch of Superfair will be open in Nieuwe Binnenweg in Rotterdam.This part of the city developed recently into a creative hub and a hip creative area, while retail spaces are still affordable there.

Many creative freelancers have already now their creative studios there or tend to work in local bars and cafes (UEB West, Western Pavilioen). There is also a co-working organization HUB located in this neighbourhood, as well as many design- or

vintage boutiques, ecological supermarkets and art galleries. The area develops certainly into lively and popular environment which makes it a perfect place for Superfair to be located.

Nieuwe Binnenweg - Rotterdam West.

urban espresso bar

Westerpaviljoen

Centrum of Fine ArtsHUB Rotterdam

HUBShop Rotterdam


design. mood-board.

Agata Pilip | 39

Because Superfair sub-units are very strongly defined by their colours, and also art supplies tend to have strong and vivid shades, the rest of the environment will stay as neutral as possible.

On this background, the colorful elements will lead the customers within the store, making it easier for them to find themselves among the wide range of services and offered products.

Moodboard


design. storedesign ideas.

Agata Pilip | 41

To stay consistent with the superhero idea and character of the brand, the store should reflect the same. The stylistic that brings superheroes to mind is the “futuristic“ one, but futuristic rather in the sense how people imagined that in the past, like in “Star Trek“ or “Jetsons” movies.

Many round forms, integrated wall furniture, colorful and round-shaped lighting, flush surfaces.

Store design

Fixtures concept:The display fixture for art supplies (above) is a simple piece of furniture, with a “plate“ where pens and pencils are perfectly displayed. In the lower part there are drawers for bigger sheets of paper.


design. store window.

Agata Pilip | 43

The shop window’s glazing is very generous, lets a lot of daylight inside and enables the passers-by to have a glimpse in the interior.

To make the interior not appearing as too dark (the “black hole effect“), there is a significant lighting element placed in the shop area, relatively near to the

entrance, that attracts people who are passing by.

Window display


design. store plan.

Agata Pilip | 45

The sub-units of the store are divided into three parts and follow in very logical order. Directly by the entrance there is the shop area, with the artist’s products on the left and art supplies on the right. It enables people who are going to use only this space (buy something while passing by, just take a look

on the displayed items), not to disturb by working, meetings and presentations of Superfair members, who sit in the furthest part of the store (in the Super Rental Area). In the middle, just in-between both sections, there is the Super Service area, with post, wrapping and printing services. It will

be used by both groups of customers: regular creative members working in the store, as well as by people coming to the store with the intention to copy, print or post something.

Circulation and organization within the store.


design. store plan.

Agata Pilip | 47

Entrance Area

in this division wall are displayed the products/equipment that can be rented

round-shaped display boxes of different size can be rented by small brands to display their products in a physical retail space

Superstore offers wide range of arts

and crafts supplies and is easy

reachable from outside

the only counter on the store contains post and wrapping services. Customers have the possibility to order a customize stationary or wrapping papers.

here the small retail brands owners can store their stock that is waiting for shipping

“working area“ - a flex-desk or permanent workspace can be rented here

meeting rooms in the very back of the store can be used for business meetings/presentations

printing and copying devices

are integrated into the fixtures


design. super-shop.

Agata Pilip | 49

At the very front of the SuperShop area and on it’s wall have been located so-called “retail boxes“ of different sizes. They can be rented by artists (rental price depending on the size) to display their products. In the middle of the area a wall-integrate fixture can serve as a display table. Over the table a lighting element and

glowing signage inform about the use of the space and attract the passers-by.

Super Fair tag-lines made of electroluminescent wire are placed in the higher part of the wall within the whole store to give a cool and motivating touch to the interior.

SuperShop area


design. super-service.

Agata Pilip | 51

SuperService area consist in the biggest mart of a counter where customers can post letters and packages, pick up their parcels, let their products be wrapped and shipped from.

On the left side of the area, there is a print and copy area where passers by as well as regular users of creative work spaces can use.

SuperService area


design. super-rental.

Agata Pilip | 53

The Rental area consist mainly of desk-for-rent workspace and meeting rooms. This area is a little bit more quiet and separated from the rest of the shop by the counter on one side and a division wall (containing to-rent-equipment) on the other side. At the very back of the area there are also storage

spaces for the customers who are about to ship their products within particular amount of time but are still collecting orders.

SuperRental area

booklet final agata

Documents

store unitcompetitors

new store formula

new home office store

store communicationinternet

retail designhomeoffice

new business

new service retail concept

pointthe new formula