Bridging Digital/Physical Experiences

There are some projects where the relationship you create with the clients go beyond work. I worked on my next project at Method three times in my tenure and twice since leaving.

Monika Shourie had suggested Method for a small digital engagement with Restoration Hardware. They were looking at redesigning their PDP (product detail page) on their website. The two digital clients were Ted Tuescher and Liesel Walsh – I've never seen two people work so fearlessly to keep up with the expanding inventory of one of the faster growing furniture brands in the world.

When we began working on the PDP project I quickly realized that this wasn't really about the PDP. When I asked Ted why the management team weren't happy with the current execution the response was mostly about the relationship between the beauty of the story experience.

I asked if we could open the scope of the project to understand the physical experience and think about how to interconnect an holistic digital experience. Eri Chaya the Chief Creative Officer of Restoration Hardware took on the project and I took Mario Porto and Nicole Berman on a trip to the Flagship store.

What followed was my usual process; looking and trying to understand the reason why the physical store experience was special. 

I wondered why the store had gates in front of the entrance. Gates reminded me of the stately homes I visited as a child in England. They made me think of valuable estates, an organized entrance, the gardens of Capability Brown.

I wondered why the forecourt had pea gravel. The sound of Pea Gravel reminded me of the luxury car auction where I first saw and fell in love with a Bentley Supercharged

I wondered why the sale tags and signage were so discreet. It was like the hallmarks on hand crafted silver-ware my nan brought out at holidays.

I wondered why everything was organized so symmetrically. As a child I'd been obsessed with the cupolas of St Pauls Cathedral and the Taj Mahal. I'd also spent hours staring at Holbein's The Ambassadors at the National Gallery and wondered about it's many hidden meaning.

We summarized this and other findings in a presentation. Eri asked if we could show it to Gary Friedman the founder and CEO. Gary was known for his intensity and a desire to look at problems until it hurt. It was a little intimidating for all of us.

As I began to present, Gary stopped and stared, for half an hour we went through observations. My final observation was as you got closer to the product in the physical store it became more and more valuable. The shape, experiencing dimensionality, the quality, the surface, the fabric, the comfort, the craftsmanship. Whereas on the web, the closer you came to purchasing something the smaller the picture, the more bare and functional the interface, the more buttons and the bigger the price.

I'd realized that traditional ecommerce patterns are redundant. They are empty warehouses designed for buying shoes, or boxes of washing powder. Amazon was wrong, it commoditized everything it sold. We had to design a completely new experience from scratch.

Gary said it was the best presentation he'd ever seen. He still refers to it four years later.

We set forth to completely redesign the website. Although it hasn't launched we learnt so much about how Gary and his team created such a high quality retail experience. Gary told the stories about how shopping mall were full of windowless boxes, and restoration hardware was a destination we created an environment where thinking about a home felt natural.

He taught me about the connection between business and creativity. He's ruthlessly sharp in both and really pushed me to understand my value and the value of creative thoughts.

Lastly he taught me how a product can be more valuable when associated with other products. How that selection becomes more valuable in a beautiful space. And how that room becomes more valuable when organized from a perspective.

I created that thought as a diagram of value in our final presentation. And when Mario Porto put RH on one of our website sketches, I asked Gary whether this value system was really reflected in the name Restoration Hardware. Wouldn't RH be better suited.

Gary changed the name of Restoration Hardware on the spot. It fitted with his ambitions for the brand. RH has since launched RH Contemporary Art, RH Music, RH Modern RH Teen, RH Interior Design. And more, much more is coming. The stores have been extended to Austin, Boston, New York and LA

Gary and his team are creating experiences which go beyond just selling furniture and now they have an identity that lives up to their perspective on experience.