One Designer’s Simple Approach to Success

http://www.eightinc.com/

Even the web site says, well, barely anything. In lieu of the typical links to information about philosophy and capabilities, the site is a single page showing... the addresses of the firm's three locations along with a full-screen slide show of recent projects.

If most firms did this, it would come off as a stopgap until they had time to create a more comprehensive site. But with Eight it feels purposeful and eloquent.

The projects Eight designs work the same way. They are simple enough that anyone can "get it" with a glance. But for those who take a closer look, there are rich layers of details beneath. Every decision has a reason, from the form, to the finishes, to the experience it creates.

"A lot of designers look at design as a styling exercise. But there's a lot more thought to the kind of designs we admire," says Tim Kobe, the firm's principal and founder. Indeed, it's level of thought which Eight uses to take things beyond most other designers. An interdisciplinary design firm, Eight's work ranges from architecture and interiors to trade show exhibits, retail design and product design. Working from offices in San Francisco, New York and Honolulu, Eight sees its role as finding the common ground between the brand and the customer-then building an interaction built on that foundation.

Eight's approach has drawn the attention of leading companies for which design is a key part of the success formula. Its client list includes brands such as Virgin Atlantic, Citibank and HP. It has acted as a consultant to Apple for eight years helping to create the Apple stores and designing Apple's tradeshows and exhibitions since 1999. And its relationship with Nike includes both pop-up retail and strategic consultation. Often, its long-standing relationships have led to ancillary projects-launches and parties and even designing homes for its clients. "It's less important the category of work we do as it is that we do good work; work we're interested in," says Kobe.

Although Eight's process evolves individually for each client, there are common things that the firm thinks and rethinks along the way. These include how to express the client's brand values in a unique and honest way, what the customers' needs really are, and how at two-way dialog might be created between the customer and the brand.

Distill the Brand Values
Kobe says the methodology to taking things further is to go beyond cosmetics to include-well-every consideration you can think of. "For us it's about making things work. We spend a lot of time trying to solve all things, not restyling," he says.

Eight looks at every project as having four quadrants that comprise the experience. These are: product/service, environment, communication and behavior. Around these are what Kobe calls the "outer circle"-brand values. The starting point is to define that outer circle which the other four quadrants must support.

The challenge comes in distilling those brand values. "Sometimes they are stated and clear, sometimes they are understood, and sometimes they are something the company holds that the customer has no idea of," says Kobe.

Eight digs deep to reveal all of the layers of brand understanding. There is what the organization believes its brand values are. Then there is what the customer believes the company's brand values are. Then there are nuances such as what the Asia Pacific team believes versus what the North American team believes.

Wilhelm Oehl, also a principal and partner in the firm, stresses that doing this right means going beyond the marketing campaign to understand what is real and true. It can't be campaign or spin-it has to be what's real. "If the company isn't honestly doing what they say they're doing, it's hard to support because the customer knows the difference," says Oehl.

The team then looks for the intersection. "We ask ‘what are the things that are most honest to the company and most meaningful to the client," says Oehl. The project is then constructed on those areas that align.

An example is the Turbochef exhibit Eight designed for the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show to launch the company's speed cook oven to the consumer market. The company wanted to communicate professional performance at home. Customers were concerned with performance, how the units look in a home kitchen and what speed-cooked food tastes like (to see first hand that there are no taste or texture issues like those that arise from cooking a roll too long in the microwave.)

The common ground was the product and the food that comes out of it, so Eight designed an environment that focused first on this and second on architecture. The focal point of the experience was a restaurant-style cooking bar with soft, rounded edges and warm wood surfaces that spoke to the home kitchen. More importantly, performance and taste questions were answered through cooking presentations where celebrity chef Charlie Trotter demonstrated the Turbochef in action and treated the audience to tastes of the lamb chops and soufflés they had just seen prepared.

Not Every Customer Wants the Same Thing
Kobe says that storytelling is just one sort of tool. The real goal is to go beyond that to open up a dialog with the customer. "You have to understand what makes the relationship," he says.

As not every customer who enters an environment will be looking for the same thing-or want the same level of experience-the ideal is to integrate the experience in a way that is scalable.

Eight's approach to this at the Nokia New York flagship was to break the environment into three areas defined by user-specific needs-not by product lines. "The client's natural reaction is to group things by product type, but customers tend to think about things in terms of their use," says Kobe.

As customers enter off of the street, they first encounter the feature product presentation area. Inside, they see cubes which highlight what Kobe calls, "the new new thing." If the customer wants to know more, the perimeter of the space is lined with product samples and embedded monitors running overall brand messaging.

If the customer's needs have been met, he can leave at that point having been immersed in the brand, but if his interest goes deeper, he is likely to pick up one of the handset samples. This action triggers product-specific video on benefits and features. Thus the store has responded to the customer. "It's about having the right info when you want it," says Kobe.

The next area displays the products with their support devices-voice activation, car installations, hands free and accessories-giving a much broader sense of what the phone can do for them. "We want to move people through to the next level of depth-if they care," says Kobe. Plus, showing the phone with the accessories usually results in additional sales.

The third area is community. In addition to opportunities to interact with other Nokia customers around the world, this area gives the customer something that simplifies their purchase decision-the opportunity to compare carrier programs to select the right type of contract.

Be Unique, Yet Honest
One thing about Eight's projects is that every one is different. There's no particular style or favored material or pattern that enables the viewer to immediately link the firm to its work. And none of its projects resemble anyone else's projects either.

This is no accident. Eight works hard to create each design specific to the client and its customer. "Being the oddball gets noticed. If it's noticed in a good way, it's incredibly powerful," he says. Case in point-the design of the Apple Stores was new and unique-and is now the standard by which many other retailers measure themselves.

Besides, Kobe firmly believes that drawing from or reworking someone else's designs hurts the client. "If you make something similar to what others are doing, you are competing on a playing field set by someone else," he says.

Eight's approach is to use the brand values as the driver, then take every decision back to that starting point. And that doesn't mean the designer has to be literal.

"Most designers look at a branded environment as an extension of the logo, so they match the color," says Kobe. By taking it further-and less literally-the designer has the opportunity to convey all types of aspects and traits that represent the company.

A great example is found in the Soho pop-up store Eight created for the launch of the Nike Zoom LeBron IV shoe. For the store, Eight designed unique display cases-giant clear cylinders that were suspended from the ceiling and hovered about two feet above the floor-an intuitive depiction of that common basketball ideal of hang time. Despite the tight installation time frame-only one week to build and open the store-Eight felt it was worth the effort to create unique fixtures. "This sort of large item suspended weightless felt appropriate to basketball," says Kobe.

At the Coach flagship at 57th and Madison in New York, Eight supported the brand's efforts to reposition itself as a high-end brand while staying true to its heritage. This was accomplished by keeping things similar and familiar-but subtly more elegant. Wood floors became walnut herringbone floors and nickel handrails were chosen versus brass because of the warmth that metal exudes.

Another facet of this is that every location doesn't have to be identical-based on the regional context and opportunities. For the Japan Coach store, the company had the opportunity to elevate itself into the luxury category against companies such as Louis Vuitton. So there, the fixtures were taken even higher end-limestone floors, channel glass, and refined wood over stainless to demonstrate technical capability.

Kobe says his firm's approach requires more dedication and takes more time. "You can't stop learning things," he says. But he also feels that the outcome is worth it. And he doesn't mean in terms of awards. Although Eight has earned more than its share of recognition from IDSA, AIS and NASFM-the measurement it prefers to look at is the success of its clients.

Consistent with Eight's approach, Kobe's system of measurement is very simple and straightforward. "More often than not, the stock prices of the companies we work with go up over time," says Kobe. "We're very proud we've contributed to their success."

 

 

Even the web site says, well, barely anything. In lieu of the typical links to information about philosophy and capabilities, the site is a single page showing... the addresses of the firm's three locations along with a full-screen slide show of recent projects.

If most firms did this, it would come off as a stopgap until they had time to create a more comprehensive site. But with Eight it feels purposeful and eloquent.

The projects Eight designs work the same way. They are simple enough that anyone can "get it" with a glance. But for those who take a closer look, there are rich layers of details beneath. Every decision has a reason, from the form, to the finishes, to the experience it creates.

"A lot of designers look at design as a styling exercise. But there's a lot more thought to the kind of designs we admire," says Tim Kobe, the firm's principal and founder. Indeed, it's level of thought which Eight uses to take things beyond most other designers. An interdisciplinary design firm, Eight's work ranges from architecture and interiors to trade show exhibits, retail design and product design. Working from offices in San Francisco, New York and Honolulu, Eight sees its role as finding the common ground between the brand and the customer-then building an interaction built on that foundation.

Eight's approach has drawn the attention of leading companies for which design is a key part of the success formula. Its client list includes brands such as Virgin Atlantic, Citibank and HP. It has acted as a consultant to Apple for eight years helping to create the Apple stores and designing Apple's tradeshows and exhibitions since 1999. And its relationship with Nike includes both pop-up retail and strategic consultation. Often, its long-standing relationships have led to ancillary projects-launches and parties and even designing homes for its clients. "It's less important the category of work we do as it is that we do good work; work we're interested in," says Kobe.

Although Eight's process evolves individually for each client, there are common things that the firm thinks and rethinks along the way. These include how to express the client's brand values in a unique and honest way, what the customers' needs really are, and how at two-way dialog might be created between the customer and the brand.

Distill the Brand Values
Kobe says the methodology to taking things further is to go beyond cosmetics to include-well-every consideration you can think of. "For us it's about making things work. We spend a lot of time trying to solve all things, not restyling," he says.

Eight looks at every project as having four quadrants that comprise the experience. These are: product/service, environment, communication and behavior. Around these are what Kobe calls the "outer circle"-brand values. The starting point is to define that outer circle which the other four quadrants must support.

The challenge comes in distilling those brand values. "Sometimes they are stated and clear, sometimes they are understood, and sometimes they are something the company holds that the customer has no idea of," says Kobe.

Eight digs deep to reveal all of the layers of brand understanding. There is what the organization believes its brand values are. Then there is what the customer believes the company's brand values are. Then there are nuances such as what the Asia Pacific team believes versus what the North American team believes.

Wilhelm Oehl, also a principal and partner in the firm, stresses that doing this right means going beyond the marketing campaign to understand what is real and true. It can't be campaign or spin-it has to be what's real. "If the company isn't honestly doing what they say they're doing, it's hard to support because the customer knows the difference," says Oehl.

The team then looks for the intersection. "We ask ‘what are the things that are most honest to the company and most meaningful to the client," says Oehl. The project is then constructed on those areas that align.

An example is the Turbochef exhibit Eight designed for the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show to launch the company's speed cook oven to the consumer market. The company wanted to communicate professional performance at home. Customers were concerned with performance, how the units look in a home kitchen and what speed-cooked food tastes like (to see first hand that there are no taste or texture issues like those that arise from cooking a roll too long in the microwave.)

The common ground was the product and the food that comes out of it, so Eight designed an environment that focused first on this and second on architecture. The focal point of the experience was a restaurant-style cooking bar with soft, rounded edges and warm wood surfaces that spoke to the home kitchen. More importantly, performance and taste questions were answered through cooking presentations where celebrity chef Charlie Trotter demonstrated the Turbochef in action and treated the audience to tastes of the lamb chops and soufflés they had just seen prepared.

Not Every Customer Wants the Same Thing
Kobe says that storytelling is just one sort of tool. The real goal is to go beyond that to open up a dialog with the customer. "You have to understand what makes the relationship," he says.

As not every customer who enters an environment will be looking for the same thing-or want the same level of experience-the ideal is to integrate the experience in a way that is scalable.

Eight's approach to this at the Nokia New York flagship was to break the environment into three areas defined by user-specific needs-not by product lines. "The client's natural reaction is to group things by product type, but customers tend to think about things in terms of their use," says Kobe.

As customers enter off of the street, they first encounter the feature product presentation area. Inside, they see cubes which highlight what Kobe calls, "the new new thing." If the customer wants to know more, the perimeter of the space is lined with product samples and embedded monitors running overall brand messaging.

If the customer's needs have been met, he can leave at that point having been immersed in the brand, but if his interest goes deeper, he is likely to pick up one of the handset samples. This action triggers product-specific video on benefits and features. Thus the store has responded to the customer. "It's about having the right info when you want it," says Kobe.

The next area displays the products with their support devices-voice activation, car installations, hands free and accessories-giving a much broader sense of what the phone can do for them. "We want to move people through to the next level of depth-if they care," says Kobe. Plus, showing the phone with the accessories usually results in additional sales.

The third area is community. In addition to opportunities to interact with other Nokia customers around the world, this area gives the customer something that simplifies their purchase decision-the opportunity to compare carrier programs to select the right type of contract.

Be Unique, Yet Honest
One thing about Eight's projects is that every one is different. There's no particular style or favored material or pattern that enables the viewer to immediately link the firm to its work. And none of its projects resemble anyone else's projects either.

This is no accident. Eight works hard to create each design specific to the client and its customer. "Being the oddball gets noticed. If it's noticed in a good way, it's incredibly powerful," he says. Case in point-the design of the Apple Stores was new and unique-and is now the standard by which many other retailers measure themselves.

Besides, Kobe firmly believes that drawing from or reworking someone else's designs hurts the client. "If you make something similar to what others are doing, you are competing on a playing field set by someone else," he says.

Eight's approach is to use the brand values as the driver, then take every decision back to that starting point. And that doesn't mean the designer has to be literal.

"Most designers look at a branded environment as an extension of the logo, so they match the color," says Kobe. By taking it further-and less literally-the designer has the opportunity to convey all types of aspects and traits that represent the company.

A great example is found in the Soho pop-up store Eight created for the launch of the Nike Zoom LeBron IV shoe. For the store, Eight designed unique display cases-giant clear cylinders that were suspended from the ceiling and hovered about two feet above the floor-an intuitive depiction of that common basketball ideal of hang time. Despite the tight installation time frame-only one week to build and open the store-Eight felt it was worth the effort to create unique fixtures. "This sort of large item suspended weightless felt appropriate to basketball," says Kobe.

At the Coach flagship at 57th and Madison in New York, Eight supported the brand's efforts to reposition itself as a high-end brand while staying true to its heritage. This was accomplished by keeping things similar and familiar-but subtly more elegant. Wood floors became walnut herringbone floors and nickel handrails were chosen versus brass because of the warmth that metal exudes.

Another facet of this is that every location doesn't have to be identical-based on the regional context and opportunities. For the Japan Coach store, the company had the opportunity to elevate itself into the luxury category against companies such as Louis Vuitton. So there, the fixtures were taken even higher end-limestone floors, channel glass, and refined wood over stainless to demonstrate technical capability.

Kobe says his firm's approach requires more dedication and takes more time. "You can't stop learning things," he says. But he also feels that the outcome is worth it. And he doesn't mean in terms of awards. Although Eight has earned more than its share of recognition from IDSA, AIS and NASFM-the measurement it prefers to look at is the success of its clients.

Consistent with Eight's approach, Kobe's system of measurement is very simple and straightforward. "More often than not, the stock prices of the companies we work with go up over time," says Kobe. "We're very proud we've contributed to their success."