group 008

beza charles
javon justin
disrupting the retail experience patricia rahul
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“Everyone has a plan until they get

punched in the mouth.”

MIKE TYSON, PHILOSOPHER

HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

book cover by rahul

process book layout

by trish
2018NOV23

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01
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Contents
4 Challenge

6 Charles Jackson

10 Trish Roque
What we hope
to achieve after
16 Beza Getachew

20 Jovan Martin

26 Rahul Madan 5 day intensive

30 Justin Martin
Apply design tools, techniques, and
34 Notes methods to identify emerging trends and
opportunities.

Use a variety of design tools and methods

to strategize around a brand problem.

Implement feedback and critique from

peers, mentors and thought leaders
through each iteration of the design
process.

Exercise project management with close

attention to the problem, stakeholders
and objective, scope and resources.

Evaluater, analyze, simulate and refine

ideas and concepts based on client’s
needs.

Use collaborative processed to develop

ideas and assets.

03
04

hello
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The challenge
is to design a
new product,
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

service or
2018NOV23

system that
will disrupt the
marketplace.
05
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01. research and visioning

02. Design ideation and

strategy

03. Design Development

04. Evaluation and

refinement

05. Final Communication

06

PROCESS BOOK BRAND IDENTITY PHYSICAL COMPONENT DIGITAL PRODUCTION PITCH

07
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09
IMPRINT

Charles Jackson
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Sticky notes, everywhere.

IMPRINT DESIGN PROCESS

design process and strategy

Trust the process-
There is an “old” idiom that speaks
to the effort one should put forward
when practicing, so that when the
real “battle” comes around it becomes
effortless, almost like...practice. With
that said, I understand the need for the
design charrette process for coming to-
gether with others to land on a singular
solution, and where all the individual
parts take place. And yet, by keeping
an open mind, and always treating the
current challenge like my first, I always
am able to learn something new or
improve upon my existing skill set. This
week, not only was I able to apply my
design tool-kit and knowledge to the
challenge, but also I was able to learn
something new everyday to apply to
future challenges or my life in general.
11

I will break down the

process I took or applied

over the week >>

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HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

01. BRAINSTORMING
Day 001 Challenge
02. IDEATION “Don’t always look forward or backwards, try looking up.”

03. UX / UI DESIGN With most week long challenges, I try to avoid even thinking
about a concept | idea | solution as not to taint the upcoming
process that you will have to follow. This allows me to focus
on the understanding the task of the challenge and or any ice
breaker activities. I find this also acts as a nice primer for the
work that will come in the following days.

NEW SKILL ACQUIRED : LARGE GROUP DESIGN // COLLAB

Day 002 Ideation

“Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal - Charles Jackson
1987.”

Sticky Notes, everywhere. And I wouldn’t change that for any-

thing else. This part of the ideation process would probably
be my top choice if I had to select one. What draws me to this
process is that you can’t just rely on your first idea, and even
if you wanted to this is the perfect time to validate/test it. If it
stands out against 100 other sticky notes than it must be a strong
concept or something to look into. The talk of the day was great
for me personally as it gave me new design frameworks to help
frame my preferred method of design, looking at history, exam-
ples, and outside the box ideas for something unique.

NEW SKILL ACQUIRED : “LEGAL” TERMS FOR “THEFT”

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Day 003 More Ideation

“There is a thin line between Lame | Great.”

Breaking away from the team can be a vital part of the process,
and often after working in a group for the day, members can gain
some new insights when they contemplate the findings through
individual research. Where we started with two decent concepts,
through research and strategy, we knew that there was poten-
tially a stronger concept in combining the two. After discussing
what this story or problem meant to the team in their POV, we
decided to continue the research part to see if we could remove
any of our biases or preconceptions.

NEW SKILL ACQUIRED : +1 STAT IN CRISIS REACTION

12

Day 004 Process

“DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY”

This was essentially the day to put all of the new and existing
skills acquired over the week into action. I started to validate
and work with a larger crowd to bounce the concept off of and
the hear from unique perspectives on their own views, ranging
to people I know well like my roommate & friends, to people
I’ve never met like a lyft driver. If I couldn’t explain the concept
to these people it probably wouldn’t be easier to explain to the
13

panel of judges during the presentation. Combine this with

looking towards other examples/history and using the Combina-
tion, Mutation, and Analogy techniques we had learned to help
guide/dictate what I would design.

NEW SKILL ACQUIRED : POTENTIAL FUTURE JOB TITLES

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HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

IMPRINT store concept. Businesses

no longer have to rely heavily on a

large construction budget to have

an immersive way of expressing

brand identity. This specific

concept is inspired by
11
The challenge is to create a product, service, and system to disrupt
the environment. Being in the HXOUSE program, my thought
process started with studying emerging creatives--such as myself,
and looking for opportunities for growth.
Something I think that most emerging creatives need to be well-
versed in is business--finding tools and strategies to allow the art to
go from a side-hustle or hobby to a sustainable source of income.
The development of technology has allowed businesses of all sizes
the opportunity to grow. Upon conducting research, I found that
the focus is shifting towards ecommerce, and that brick and mortar
IMPRINT
Trish
Roque 15
retail experiences are being transformed due to this shift. A prime
example of this would be the effect of amazon on retail giants like
Barnes and Noble.
This isn’t to say that brick and mortar is dying--there’s a reason
why Amazon has opened up bookstores. Brick and mortar offers
an experience that online stores can’t offer (yet). Physical stores
allow consumers a level of connection to the product; they are also
utilized in expressing a brands identity. The simple design of the
Apple store and the locker room feel of Nike are examples of space
utilized in curating a branded experience.
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2018NOV23
12

09

Trish Roque
IMPRINT
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Importance of Environment
IMPRINT DESIGN PROCESS

This got me thinking —what if there was

a way for smaller businesses to provide
an immersive, branded experience? I
then studied technological trends to
find opportunities where this is possi-
ble. This led me to AR/VR technology.

So far, the technology is seen mostly

in the gaming industry, The use of VR
technology is seldom seen paired up
with ecommerce. This led to the idea
of using the technology as a tool for
smaller creatives to express identity.

The immediate effect of this is the

removal of the costs associated with
brick and mortar—a burden that many
business eventually succumb to. This
also removes the very limitations of
physics, retailers can create any envi-
ronment to tell unlimited stories. AR
technology would also allow people
to try things on in an accurate way =,
without leaving the comfort of their
home--opening up a group of consum-
ers who would typically stay away from
online shopping due to uncertainy
related to sizing etc.
11

Exploring possibilities

of VR/AR in ecommer-

ce —different ways to

use environment for

Day 1 of HXOUSE landing--
storytelling
understanding the challenge

DAY 002, HXOUSE

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early mind map of

mobile shops
DAY 002, HXOUSE
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

space
More and more retailers are opening pop
up shops, which each retailer opening
for different purposes—whether its to
test the waters for a brick and mortar
or perhaps to simply advertise a new
product. Either way, it can be agreed that
pop ups are an inexpensive way for retail-
ers to sell a story. The way I approached
the design of the mobile shop was to
keep a simple form, and let it act as a
blank canvas for the creatives.

01. 3d printed models of

mobile shops
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Beza
Getachew
I’M WALKING AWAY FROM THIS EXPERIENCE
AS A MORE CRITICAL THINKER
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

Before I got into Hxouse, I didn’t ques- should choose. During the discussion it was
tion why I had certain ideas. My thought brought up to merge the two concepts into
process was always one idea. We were initially split 50/50.

#1. Idea. #2. How Can I Implement it?
During this process, I realized that what
comes in-between the idea and imple-
mentation is the sweet spot and skipping
it leaves my idea with empty holes.
I’m walking away from this experience as
a more critical thinker and I believe the
questions and critiques I learned to vocal-
ize, contributed to our group’s final idea.
On the 2 nd day, our group decided we
felt strongly about two different ideas and
it was a matter of discussing which we
Some thought they were two separate ideas
that don’t relate and others thought they fit
hand-and-hand.
I believed they were two separate ideas and
launching them at the same time would not
be seamless to understand, so I brought up
the example of Uber.
What if Uber (ride sharing) and Uber Eats
launched at the time. Would we be over-
whelmed as customers?
Would we understand it? Is there a reason
they waited years to launch Uber Eats?
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As a former

journalism student,

I’ve always been

research focused,

which is why we

agreed to task me

with the build out

of the pitch deck.

It was important

for me to provide

the facts/stats that

would validate

our “problem” and

support our thinking

process.

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19
20
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2018NOV23
18

22 21

process.
trust the
IMPRINT
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I think this analogy helped us as a group Apply design tools,

to see our idea in a new perspective. techniques, and

After a long discussion, we decided the methods to identify

solution was to format the idea into two emerging trends and

phases (with a focus on phase 1) instead opportunities

of introducing it all as one big idea. In

addition, this conversation allowed us to
change our problem to fit this new busi-
ness model.

The initial pitch layout I wrote out on the

3rd day compared to the layout after a
group discussion on the 4 th day, which
helped us fill empty holes. This group
discussion was so crucial and valuable.
During it, I made an observation that
there needed to be a bridge between the
Phase 1 slides and Phase 2 slides, and our
group agreed this was an important de-
cision. Without a bridge, the two phases
could seem unrelated to the audience.

As one of the group members who ini-

tially was on the side that the two phases
did not relate, it was important for me to
make an analogy and visual connection.
That’s when an insight about Spotify
came to me.

Spotify is an online/digital service, but

still encourages you to go to in-person
concerts (through

emails linking you straight to TicketMas-

ter, home page graphics promoting up-
coming shows near you, etc). E.g: Spotify
killed HMV but increased popularity of
live music experiences.

Our brand, Imprint, is an online/digital

XR shopping service for retailers, but still
enables you to

create in-person pop up experiences.

E.g: E-commerce killed big box retail but
helped the rise of pop-up shops.
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HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

BRAINSTORMING IDEATION

VIDEO EDITING RESEARCH

ORGANIZATION PRESENTATION
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Javon
Martin
15

19 NOVEMBER 2018 // DAY 1 20 NOVEMBER 2018 // DAY 2

Arrive Monday Breakfast

Explore the wall Pantry is lit, need a new client

Get In groups Group brainstorm again

Task gets assigned More pantry. Sandwich was wack.. both of them. Soft. Free lunch.
Keep it movin.
I realized quick when people got excited about the visual
aspect, I was excited to make money. Choose alternatives for alternatives sake

Get coffee, meet new client. Present to the facilitator

Listen & connect All of a sudden 2 ideas are getting merged into 1

Lunch was fire. Skipped jerk chicken, copped macaroni. That I’m confused, don’t understand the concept
should have been a combo.
I bring it up and everyone seems to understand as a collective.
Group activity to challenge our thinking
Individuals explained it differently & there were too many gaps.
Brief discussion
Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions.
Food & connect
Still too many gaps
Dope day
Team members getting frustrated cause I’m asking a lot of ques-
tions lol

No resolution

Everyone goes home and sleeps with the idea

Growth pains, thoughts required

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Day 003
Morning time my mind was racing fam, crazy
Hit the train and start analyzing the situation
I’m not the biggest fan of the idea but soft
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

The group and I are on different pages

We’re under a time restriction
I’m not going to be the obstacle in the way of moving the idea
forward
It’s not about the idea it’s about how we solve problems
I’m grateful I have a team that takes initiative over the elements
2018NOV23

of the project that I don’t particularly enjoy

The real problem is that we have a presentation on Friday and we
need progress.
JAVON MARTIN
I already have the rep for “presentation guy” because of last
tryout
PROCESS BOOK
It’s probably best I let these guys hold the idea and let me figure
out how to win the client, that’s my creative
HXOUSE
Brainstorm a framework
Obeid comes through to the spot for interview
Drops dope shit- he puts me on the roles included in transaction
Selling is a real thing, it’s go time
After lunch tho. Salmon flame, coleslaw flame. Rice was right.
Sesame seed dressing is a thing.
Start meeting, facilitate and progress the convo to mutual under-
standing
Team on same page
Start thinking of how to sell
Team revisits deliverables & divides workload, I’m on presentation
& ad campaign
Think of Dope ideas
Shoot a teaser of intro video
Sell idea to all team members
Teams on board. #progress
Group meets facilitator
Facilitator asks same questions as I asked the night before
Groups stumped
Im confused, thought we were all at common understanding
My yute gets mad
I’m heated
Clients calling, wop
Confidence restored, back in action
Group stressing, convo goes nowhere
Spend hour on name
I’m heated
23 IMPRINT
I’m heated
Write in journal
Ball up
Talk to clients
Try to sleep
Shorties get curved
Ideas on the cookup

I don’t know what the idea is, but I need to sell it

Need story... what story?
Team wants brand side but to show the full experience
I need bed ASAP
Phone call, more wops. Defs not sleeping
I don’t know the idea, but video creative props are the same
I need different clothing fits
Need store fixtures
Need to film stop motion ar experience, look around, insert fix-
tures // transition
User experience, trying on clothes.
Orders clothing. Someone throws a box and then I open & read
the start of our presentation
But what will we open with? What elements are included?
They said pitch coaching tomorrow so I’ll wait.
But I need to ensure everyone’s creative is highlighted & everyone
gets a chance to speak.
12

Ad campaign-
Live activation - try vr at stores, get email
Billboard -
Influencers - let them try their avatar, take pics, upload pics of
their avatar & tag us for credits
Sponsored posts
13

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Trust the
process
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

22 NOVEMBER 2018 // DAY 4 Strategy

Couldn’t find the outfit I wanted. Cheesed
Grandma took my breakfast and gave it to little
brother. Late for train
Woosah, stay positive.
Grateful I have arms and legs cause with no legs I
would have missed the train.
I think we missed the digital deliverable so I want to
do something- an email attachment, .PDF
We need videos on YouTube for it- keep em private
That’s fine
What about the ad campaign? Who do we need to
attract? And why?
We want shoppers (what type of shoppers?)
THE ART OF THE PITCH
Account management
their role to ask questions while building relation-
ships
They uncover the needs
Budget, scope, what their challenges and they think
their solution is.
Establish the “scope of work,” the parameters and
goals. Target market of who, and where.
Know your audience, who’s the decision maker,
what’s their background and what influences their
decision // what’s their decision cover?
all the research that leads on an insight that creative can
execute on
Client
whatvhage they done in the past
What types of audience are they in
Do an audit on the client, understand what they’ve done,
trying to do and understand where they’re trying to go
Category
all of the brands that do the same thing that this brand does.
Understand the competition to find the white space; a posi-
tioning that no one in the market is capitalizing
The goal is to prevent the redundancies
How do consumers in this audience react to certain commu-
nications
CULTURE
understanding how the market behaves and is influenced.
It’s moved by people at the margins
The people at the margins that isn’t represented by the main-
stream
CONSUMER
understanding the target market
What’s their consumer profile look like, what do they do, what
types of things do they like
Start the project with drama
bring up the problems
Category, target audience, what the brand has done in the
past
Strategy is intangible
Tactics are tangible
How do you implement
 25 IMPRINT
24 NOVEMBER 2018 // DAY 5
How do you execute
How do you stay alive
0140h
About to submit the process book
—- presentation done
Now that the guidelines are in for the branding we can create
additional documents.
Get to brainstorming
Scribble on wall Tomorrow’s time for the PDF & the last minute campaigns &
upload to YouTube snippets of the visuals, mock ups, and mar-
Write in journal keting strategy.
Pitch my pitch idea to the group, break down the segments
Team moves it around how they think is most effect “Build your virtual store.. in seconds!”
Shoot the commercial is the branding crazy & psycho?
Edit the draft Classy?
Go home Diverse?
Ball up
Try to sleep Meh that’ll be up to the group
Can’t sleep
More ideas, hooked on this new visual concept of VR Our team is dope.

Today when I met up with the group I told them about my

PTSD with the designer and they laughed. Alexa isn’t crazy.
16
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“Water is life.”
RAHUL MADAN, WIL STUDIOS

Rahul
Madan
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

2018NOV23

i was lucky enough to join forces with

a very talented and diverse group of
individuals for this design challenge.
throughout the process i felt myself
absorbing new ideation frameworks
and small creative mannerisms from
each team member, as well as from the
guest lecturers, which i believe will prove
invaluable moving forward in my creative
endeavours.

i felt day 01 was relatively challenging as

the clustering exercise in a large group
format felt overwhelming and somewhat
chaotic. it was difficult to get a sense of
the process as no roles were defined, so
i consciously decided to take a step back
and feel out the room.

01. Piti volenis des a

conestionsed quas arcia

volenis que quis nonsequost

ipsapedi apis verrum de odi

unt et, soloressus.

08
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28 IMPRINT

Process
i especially paid close attention to my group members - getting
to know each one on a personal and creative level to foresee how
our group dynamic would play-out through the week.

when we began discussing the challenge and understood we

must present a ‘new’ opportunity to disrupt the market place, i
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

RAHUL MADAN started brainstorming inconveniences i tend to notice on a day-

to-day basis within my own creative practices.
PROCESS BOOK

on day 02, Trish & i discussed skeletons of some ideas we had

HXOUSE
come up with during the clustering exercise that morning and
during the day prior. I mentioned a VR retail experience, while she
2018NOV23

mentioned mobile workshops. throughout the course of the day,

our group decided to follow through with these two ideas which
we pitched to our advisor Warren. He mentioned that merging
the two concepts together could prove advantageous, which
validated a conversation Trish and I had during the day. Before
we checked out that evening, we diluted the ideas to a common
theme of ‘spatial solutions’ where we would offer vendors the
opportunity to sell products through VR storefronts and in-per-
son through temporary pop-ups, to aid against the rising costs of
brick & mortar retail. we also spoke on offering spatial solutions
for workspaces by moonlighting the mobile pop-ups at retrofit-
ted, temporary studio spaces. we left day 02 with a split decision
on whether we should focus on the VR concept or merge the two
ideas together to create a broader system of services.

i felt very strongly that the two ideas could be unified and urged
the team to research, prepare questions, and poke holes so we
could lock in on our concept for day 03. i jotted my notes on my
phone, found correlations and attempted to respond to some
concerns that were raised. i.e. Javon (with a business background)
questioned; “how do we pay for the pop-up pods?” this stuck in
my mind, and sprouted the idea of a membership fee. an insight-
ful conversation with Beza prompted the idea that we should
roll out in phases so the membership fee could fund the pop-up
phase. i also felt that we could use the brands and current users
as an existing market to launch the pop-ups as a second phase.

my personal experience as a brand owner proved advantageous

to the team throughout the process as i was able to view the
concept from all angles. how does this benefit the vendor? con-
sumer? what are the differing perspectives of a large versus an
emerging vendor?
29 IMPRINT

after several hours, we felt we were in a good place by merging

the two ideas.

when Warren jumped in on day 03, we realized our concept

would read contradictory to an audience as we were offering
an alternative to brick and mortar, but were then offering pop-
ups. this forced us to re-think our messaging. during a late night
session, we instead framed our company as “disrupting the retail
experience” rather than offering opportunities for spatial solu-
tions. this provided a clearer message to the audience while still
offering the same product and service.

on day 04, i was adamant on making our idea as robust as pos-

sible, compiling a list of all possible deliverables. so many ideas,
so little time! i had a strong idea for a logo of a thumbprint to
represent our unique voice, as well as the identities of each
brand who would use our services. i proposed kelly green, sans
serif fonts, and a clean and modern logo with a strong, bold
secondary typeface to allow our brand a note of conviction while
remaining current. i believe the bright green reflects our fresh
idea and eco-friendly messaging as well. in accordance with the
visual identity, i also worked with Trish to produce the process
book design and direction.
12

Trish and i also collaborated on the physical deliverable by way

of a 3D printed ‘pop-up pod’ mock-up. we designed them via
physical sketches and Sketchup and thought if they expanded
once immobile, they would offer the requisite square footage to
hold a successful pop-up experience. it took sixteen hours per 3D
model! on day 04, i believe we did a great collaborative exercise.
we walked through our presentation step-by-step and filled any
gaps we recognized. we each worked on our deliverables and
supported each other through the process.

overall, i believe my personable nature and extensive experience

in team settings allowed me to quickly form relationships with
each team member and afforded me the opportunity to have my
13

voice heard throughout the process. this challenge has validated

my past experiences – being aware of your team dynamic and
consciously respectful of each team member helps nurture an
environment conducive to ideation and execution.
14
30 IMPRINT

If I had asked people

what they wanted, they
would’ve said ‘faster
horses’
HENRY FORD, INNOVATOR
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

Can the property market be disrupted by

2018NOV23

a re-organization/ tech revolution involving

space? If you somehow could organize space
through a system of inexpensive, portable &
multi-use spaces in conjunction with the needs
of the property market, you could essentially
eliminate the need for permanent or long term
property fixtures therefore disrupting the mar-
ket by decreasing the demand for rent, pop-up
spaces or studio spaces. What tools could be
used to do this?
Virtual reality allows for an endless virtual
space & with technology advancements a VR
experience could suffice as a real experience,
in fact being more convenient than real space.
Using minimal design you could create a small
yet extremely efficient portable space, elimi-
nating the need for a permanent space that
is essentially cheaper & more convenient than
property.
Could we do to the property market what Uber
did to taxi cabs? However, since physical space
is a NEED at some point, a system of temporary
and portable spaces would allow people to
solve their need for space in reality as well.
31 IMPRINT

Justin
Martin
32 IMPRINT

Process
Retail experience is shifting to e-commerce already but it is
however boring & some are deterred by uncertainty of size & fit
of products.

Virtual reality would solve the issue of sizing, as you could virtu-
ally try on clothes. The brands with the virtual stores would no
longer have to adhere to reality’s rules and their aesthetics, mar-
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

keting & experience could be as unrealistic as they would like.

The portable spaces would allow for pop-up spaces in real life,
that would be promoted through the virtual reality creating an
avenue for successful designers to create a community. Just like
spotify decreasing album sales but promoting merch and concert
2018NOV23

tickets, we would decrease e-commerce but promote physical

sales t the same time.
JUSTIN MARTIN
All while solving the issues of the retail experience market.
PROCESS BOOK
Imprint connotes person- alized impression, just like a brand
HXOUSE would use our platform for. This is also represented with the fin-
gerprint logo.
33
12
IMPRINT

14
34 IMPRINT

building virtual
HXOUSE L ANDING / TEAM008

space
2018NOV23

...in seconds
35 IMPRINT

Notes

HXOUSE LANDING
The challenge
is to design a
new product,
service or
system that
will disrupt the
marketplace.