Responses by James Earls, cofounder and creative director, Tomorrow Bureau.
Background: We joined forces with Swiss performance sportswear brand On and Amsterdam-based design studio Modem to develop a new visual approach for On’s retail narratives, shaping how the brand’s innovation and design ethos are expressed and experienced by consumers within physical spaces. Starting with the new Zurich flagship, we built a sculptural tabletop centerpiece and installed it with integrated screens that showcase CloudTec, the brand’s key running models and hero innovation. With visual content activated by customer presence and engagement with the products, the experience offers an interactive and immersive window into On’s products and performance brand mission.
Design thinking: With On and Modem, our ambition was to redefine a next-generation retail experience by creating a bridge between storytelling and self-discovery in a busy retail space, inviting consumers to learn through engagement with the product and the structure, as well as revealing digital visuals: a conversation between the visitor, the product and the brand.
Responsible for the content, we looked to create something graphic, raw and minimalist—visuals that would work in balance with the restrained approach to material choices and the nature of the physical centerpiece. The visuals needed to be engaging but noninvasive to the rest of the space. We developed a narrative structure that worked across all products, and had the potential to be scaled for future releases and upcoming innovations.
Our approach to the design of these films was to strip everything back to pure essentials. The film content needed to serve two key purposes: First, the story of CloudTec technology as the underlying innovation across all products—communicating how it works, but also how it has evolved. Second, to communicate the sensorial feeling and benefit of each shoe for runners.
Our experience with articulating complex narratives around innovation, particularly across sport and lifestyle, was key to the partnership and execution. For this project, we needed to speak to the principles of speed, energy, stability and softness—all principles that lend themselves well to a graphic and data-driven approach. We showcased support, energy return and comfort through the use of heatmaps and graph visualization, while the restrained color palette and stripped-back graphics spoke to the brand’s motivation and laser focus to always be testing and looking forward.
Challenges: An interesting challenge for this project was to stay away from overly complex visual devices that might have felt gimmicky. We were given the opportunity to dive into a more raw and technology-leaning visual language, which helped us connect feeling, innovation and brand across all the film content. Pushing towards something more immediate and dynamic, we worked hard to shape something that felt tactile, rather than overly sharp and clinical.
New lessons: You can convey a great deal with very little. It was a great exercise in restraint.
Visual influences: Data visualization and the raw language of CGI and animation played a massive role in defining the aesthetics of this project. Revealing details that are often unseen and moved away from. They presented a perfect opportunity to connect product, brand and innovation.
Specific project demands: Working closely with the team at On and under a tight deadline, reactivity became key as they undertook life testing of the table. While we explored a lot of territories and defined a more expansive narrative initially, we all realized, as they tested, that immediacy was important to connect with the user and deliver the right message. So, while we had a great time exploring and testing a lot of visual devices, the end delivery was very contained and focused on key beats in storytelling.
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