Cartier is a French luxury brand that designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells jewelry, leather goods, and watches since 1847.
Their newly-established store in Hong Kong Lee Garden was launched in October 2022, and they would like us to design digital experiences to include in the store. We were invited to pitch innovative ideas, design sophisticated experiences, and deliver the experience on-store upon opening.
Here are the project goals that we summarised, according to the requirement of the client:
With its newly launched flagship store, Cartier would like to attract Generation Z customers to visit.
A digital experience blend in seamlessly with the interior and installation of exhibition zone.
We will utilize the material and intriguing history of Cartier's product to leverage its branding and convert potential buyers.
Before the project started to get on the design stage, we noticed there are some challenges we would need to overcome to achieve a successful experience:
Cartier is usually perceived as a luxury and traditional, making it less appealing to the younger generation.
To make the experience intriguing to the youth, we proposed to use devices like HoloLens and Sony spatial displays that are cutting-edge.
The interior design process started at the same time as us. We will need to brainstorm blindly yet keep in mind that it would need to blend in with the interior.
We started our research with existing experiences that inspired us, categorized by different devices and the nature of the experience. We also evaluate what technologies will be used, and is our studio already equipped with the knowledge to achieve it.
We started the research by trying out apps existing in the oculus store supporting hand tracking. I recorded some videos of me trying out hand physics lab, spatial and Meta workplaces, and take notes on design restrictions to aware.
However, only a limited number of apps support hand tracking by the time we design (early 2022). Apps supporting pass-through mode are even rarer and inevitably, we will need to do a lot of iteration and experiment ourselves.
We then do some fast ideation with sketching, according to the devices we proposed to use. For example, here I am showing the sketches I worked on along with another UX designer. We tried to propose ideas on Sony spatial display, with an Ultraleap hand motion sensor to make the experience innovative and more appealing to the youth.
We scanned and organized our sketches into a PDF, and send them over to the clients to review. There are different unique challenges and limitations for each device, we communicated with the clients back and forth to come to a consensus on which device and experience exactly to use.
We started the research by trying out apps existing in the oculus store supporting hand tracking. I recorded some videos of me trying out hand physics lab, spatial and Meta workplaces, and take notes on design restrictions to aware.
However, only a limited number of apps support hand tracking by the time we design (early 2022). Apps supporting pass-through mode are even rarer and inevitably, we will need to do a lot of iteration and experiment ourselves.
The first project has similar content but can be experienced in AR with iPad and MR with HoloLens. Users can walk around in the store with guidance from the applications to learn about the history of Cartier with interactive materials, along with the real product set up in the store.
The second project would be an interactive experience using a phone to interact with the display in the Cartier store. Users can customize the watch to their preference and share it on social media.
The last project would be a gallery-viewing experience with the Sony Spatial Display, connected to an Ultraleap motion sensor to enable the detection of hand motion. Users can wave their hands to travel back and forth in a gallery with the products and images that are related to the history of Cartier.
With the 3 main experiences, we also designed a form that required to fill for users to sign up before participating in any of the experiences. Cartier can collect users' data with these forms to send promotional emails and convert potential buyers.
We also provided training for the host in the store, as they would be guiding the users. It was 3 days of training, we taught them how to use the devices, how to guide the users best, and what to introduce when the users were viewing specific contents.
We created an interactive experience where users can walk around the store and view additional material on the history of the products. Here is a video on how it works:
The gold line navigation on the ground as shown in the video was insisted on by the client. However, it is not sufficient to bring the users to the location they needed as we tested. We decided to add a location indicator that will move and point to the next location.
Firstly, I designed it using the image of the next product they will view. As I believed it will be a clear indication of finding the object in a specific direction. It will also be an elegant UI solution. However, we quickly discovered it is a problem over small group testing. For the youth, especially with gaming experience, it is clear what to do next. However, older people would try to tap into it, and expect something to happen.
Despite the older people are not our target users, we want the experience to be accessible to them. To improve the clarity, we replaced it with an icon and the text “look here”. This has reduced the tapping situation significantly, and users are more capable to go to the correct location.
We started the research by trying out apps existing in the oculus store supporting hand tracking. I recorded some videos of me trying out hand physics lab, spatial and Meta workplaces, and take notes on design restrictions to aware.
However, only a limited number of apps support hand tracking by the time we design (early 2022). Apps supporting pass-through mode are even rarer and inevitably, we will need to do a lot of iteration and experiment ourselves.
The concept and content are very much the same with iPad AR. We would need to translate the interaction from tapping the screen to using hand gestures. Here is a video that recorded in our studio setting:
These are the problems we encountered, I generalised it into three problems:
The ram capacity and field of view are limited.
Hand gesture and the sense of distance takes time to learn.
The store wasn’t finished setup until a few days ago before opening.
There are a few technical limitation we encountered with HoloLens, which cannot be solved and affected the whole experience. One of the most serious one is the limited field of view of HoloLens. As we have plenty of time to get familiar with the glasses and its limitation, not all the users can comprehend quickly and follow through when part of the objects are cropped in the view.
We started the research by trying out apps existing in the oculus store supporting hand tracking. I recorded some videos of me trying out hand physics lab, spatial and Meta workplaces, and take notes on design restrictions to aware.
However, only a limited number of apps support hand tracking by the time we design (early 2022). Apps supporting pass-through mode are even rarer and inevitably, we will need to do a lot of iteration and experiment ourselves.
Compared to Meta quest 2, HoloLens has more limited gestures to be used, also less sensitive to detect. As we observed the first-time users of the HoloLens, often have trouble knowing if they are successfully pinching something or not. The lack of sensitivity provided delayed feedback and resulted in confusion and slow learning of users.
It was not until 3 days ago that the store completed the setup and allow us to scan the environment. While the application works well in our studio space, with the scanning of the real setup we found more problems and yet lacked time to improve. We can only debug as we can to ensure the application works smoothly.
We started the research by trying out apps existing in the oculus store supporting hand tracking. I recorded some videos of me trying out hand physics lab, spatial and Meta workplaces, and take notes on design restrictions to aware.
However, only a limited number of apps support hand tracking by the time we design (early 2022). Apps supporting pass-through mode are even rarer and inevitably, we will need to do a lot of iteration and experiment ourselves.
I would like to say that we found solutions to the problem, but the truth is, we can only apply workarounds in a limited time. For example, given HoloLens's limited ram capacity, we have to restart sometimes to ensure the device works. For the gesture and field of view problem, we tested for the best way to guide the users, and teach the host in the store to ensure they can do it smoothly.
While I don’t consider the HoloLens experience a big win or a complete failure, it was really challenging and I learned a fruitful lesson from the design process and communication with the developers. For the next time to design with cutting-edge devices, there are some mindset and strategy that I would need to apply:
We want to also utilize the space of the shop window to create an interactive experience. Users can access the experience by waving their hands on the sensor to choose a product to interact with and scanning the QR popping up to start. You can change the color and strap with the watch, and rotate it to view the result. Here is a video showcasing the project:
Here is the UX/UI flow I designed, in both Chinese and English. Users will be using the trackpad zone to control the model on display as shown in the video. I also designed short animations as tutorials for the users, to allow them to learn to use the website intuitively.
We started the research by trying out apps existing in the oculus store supporting hand tracking. I recorded some videos of me trying out hand physics lab, spatial and Meta workplaces, and take notes on design restrictions to aware.
However, only a limited number of apps support hand tracking by the time we design (early 2022). Apps supporting pass-through mode are even rarer and inevitably, we will need to do a lot of iteration and experiment ourselves.
This is an animation I worked on, according to Cartier iconography styles, that would be played repeatedly on the large display before the user activated the experience.
I was responsible for designing the language selection interaction, and observed people can use it intuitively. I am also responsible to test the hand motion sensitivity and communicate with the developer to adjust. Here is the result that I recorded in the studio environment:
In this video, I was trying to explain the limitation of the device and teach the host how to avoid malfunction.
We had recorded over 70 people registered on the form per day, and it was considered a success for us. By the time I left the company, Cartier had asked us to do a New Year theme with the same framework we developed. We are also covered in local media and visited by KOL.
I am always interested in working with innovative and cutting-edge mediums. While enjoying the process of tackling the challenge, I reflected and learned more about using the correct methodology and mindset to successfully provide a workable solution.
During the training session for the host in-store, I also learn that I enjoyed hosting sessions, teaching, and observing people use my designs. It is always a great chance to identify problems and ideate the next solutions to improve the experience. With the resources allowed, I would definitely appreciate the chance to do it often.
Lastly, I had the chance not to communicate with the users only but also with the other stakeholders in the project. From the conversation with the person in charge of the interior design, I learned more about her difficulties, and identify resources that I can ask in advance to better facilitate the testing process next time.
