Project Overview
Spring 2021Team:
Rachel Legg, Jiaqi Wang
Duration:
6 weeks
Field:
Branding, Interaction Design, Experience Design
This project is a pop-up shop proposal for Rent the Runway that will be located in Schenley Plaza for short periods of time (3-4 weeks) and then moved to other cities around the country.
Through this project, I explored how to reach the target audience, showcase the product or service and increase brand recognition, as well as a study of site, scale, and materiality.
Considering the emotions, motivations, and impulses that influence decision-making, we embeded interactive activities that would enhance the overall experience at different touch points.
Through this project, I explored how to reach the target audience, showcase the product or service and increase brand recognition, as well as a study of site, scale, and materiality.
Considering the emotions, motivations, and impulses that influence decision-making, we embeded interactive activities that would enhance the overall experience at different touch points.
Part I
Research
For the first part of the process, my teammate and I conducted a thorough analysis of the Rent the Runway brand identity, including their audience, competitors and messaging, paying particular attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the current system with a view to either incorporating/continuing any relevant strengths and eliminating any weaknesses.
We gained three key insights from our research that will be carried on in the next step:
1. Flexibility
Rent the Runway has flexibility in sizes, budget, and style so women have quite literally infinite options. Not to mention these unlimited options also don’t break the bank. A customer can rent many outfits for the cost of buying one dress. This becomes more about the whole experience of wearing clothes rather than just one garment.
2. Sustainability
RTR’s business model extends the use and life of clothes through renting. Individual pieces get much more use from many and this in turn lowers the rate of clothing production! Clothing lifecycles extend, while consumption rates lower!
RTR’s business model extends the use and life of clothes through renting. Individual pieces get much more use from many and this in turn lowers the rate of clothing production! Clothing lifecycles extend, while consumption rates lower!
3. Empowerment
Rent the Runway empowers women to feel their best every day and under every circumstances, which is also RTR’s mission. We want to emphasize fashion’s potential to be transformative-how the way they look changes their energy. One area of growth is that RTR could expand this empowerment to more than just middle age affluent women.
Rent the Runway empowers women to feel their best every day and under every circumstances, which is also RTR’s mission. We want to emphasize fashion’s potential to be transformative-how the way they look changes their energy. One area of growth is that RTR could expand this empowerment to more than just middle age affluent women.
Part II
Pop-up Show Model
Concept
The Pop-up embodies a RTR movie premier that is both fun and sophisticated. We borrowed the movie premier experience because people usually associate this experience with glory, highlight moment, celebrity and so on. However, it is usually exclusive, so we believe that the visitors would feel empowered to be part of it.
Goals
We wanted to convey the Flexibility, Empowerment, and Sustainability of Rent the Runway.
The goal is also to change mindset and put an emphasis on the emotional experience when wearing clothes rather than the physical material.
Audience
The targeted audiences are women in their early 20s. Reaching out to younger audiences is very potential because they are in the stage of life that start to entering workforce, and attending many life events such as weddings, graduations, and parties.
Although they might not yet be financially affluent enough to use RTR on a daily basis, this pop up experience would help to increase exposure and encourage them to use RTR in the future when needed.
Although they might not yet be financially affluent enough to use RTR on a daily basis, this pop up experience would help to increase exposure and encourage them to use RTR in the future when needed.
Location
The rent the runway pop-up would be located on schenley plaza which is perfect for the demographic, and an open, popular space, full of activity. Its surrounded by restaurants, CMU & Pitt, the museums, cathedral of learning.
Interaction Overview
Runway
Photo BothExperience
Garment Memory Movie
Paper Clothes Dispay
Infinite
Closet
Interaction 1
PHOTO BOOTH EXPERIENCE![]()
The first experience is the photo booth experience. We want to give visitors the ability to try on clothes. By using AR technology this experience shows rent the runway’s flexibility and unlimited options. This will be fun and exciting, and visitors will get to take away the photos they take.
Interaction 2
GARMENT MEMORY MOVIE EXPERIENCE![]()
The goal of this part of the pop-up is to highlight the emotional experience with clothes. The visitors will choose one garment from the garment gallery by pressing the corresponding button on the control table, and watch a 2 minutes montage of that particular garment’s “memories”. Below is an example of how the red sweater’s movie would look like:
Interaction 3
PAPER DRESS TAKEAWAY ![]()
Upon exiting the Gallery, the visitor will encounter the wall of paper clothes display. These are physical reminders of clothes visitors saw in the previous section. The wall is set up so each week eight new outfits are added which translates to a row on the wall.
Interaction 4
INFINITE CLOSET ![]()
Upon exiting, there is a neon rent the runway sign and it also leads back to the curved wall so visitors can take a closer look at the displays. Each garment has an “invisible” model that subtly moves to add more interest to these digital displays.
Physical Model
