About the work
A project to UNLEARN the relationship between taste and sight. By drinking the WOW original beer created for this project and expressing the taste you experienced through the app, you can rediscover your taste buds.

Package
Only a white circle is printed on the beer packaging at the time of distribution. By pasting stickers generated from the app, you can create your original label and bring it home.

App
An original app was developed and created for one to express the taste they experience while drinking the beer by arranging components of various shapes and colors that were prepared in advance. Each component was prepared in the form of illustrations, using fruits, plants, and onomatopoeia as motifs, and based on words that brewers usually use to express flavor. Since texture, which has a big impact on taste, cannot be expressed using just colors and shapes, a filter function was added as a feature unique to digital apps. The app experience was designed based on the offline workshop done in advance.

Exhibition
The project was presented from October 15th (Saturday) to October 30th (Sunday), 2022, during WOW's 25th Anniversary Exhibition titled "Unlearning the Visuals" which was held at Terrada Warehouse E HALL. From December 2022 to January 2023, we also set up sales and original label production content at Discover Japan Lab. in Shibuya PARCO.

Project Web Site : informs.design/


About the Work
We propose InfoTexture, a design approach that recaptures the context and materiality behind the data as texture. As the first study, we made a video focusing on the volume of minor metals produced. We explored the visual beauty of rare metals as minerals; at the same time, we attempted to visualize them to consider the unbalance in the countries that produce minor metals.


“InForms” Project
This video was produced as part of an original project “InForms”. “InForms” is a project that explores the visual representation of “information” for an aesthetic experience of it. Rather than cutting and symbolizing information to directly transmit the intention, this approach is to explore the visualization of information that triggers creative thinking through a visual experience. This is our approach as a visual design studio WOW.

About App
This application allows you to enjoy art installations through AR (augmented reality) + motion graphics. The goal is to turn any environment into an art installation.

The Peacock Moth
This work is an exploration of the beautiful “shapes” of various moths. It draws inspiration from the short story “Jugendgedenken (Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth)”ß by Hermann Hesse.

WOW PORTAL
The year is 2031. Technology has advanced dramatically and WOW inc. has invented teleportation using quantum technology. Using this, humans can now travel around the world with a terminal.

EVERYDAY
Depicts everyday motifs with extraordinary animation and dynamics.
By viewing through AR on top of reality, reality and unreality intermingle, creating a scene with unclear boundaries.

Betweener
A dancer that dances in the space between reality and an imaginary world line. Expresses people of nowadays who are digital natives and enjoy coming and going seamlessly between the real world and an imaginary world online.

Loop of Life
The phenakistoscope is considered to be the ancestor of animation.
Combining the oldest and most modern technology, the various activities of life that have been repeated throughout the ages are depicted.


▶WOW AR iOS App Download
▶WOW AR website
*Only the iOS version (free) is available. The Android version is not yet available.

By using AR, it has become possible to display art, hold live events and promotions in places that were previously difficult to implement. With regard to video installations, we can now be released from the restrictions of playback equipment and projection environments. Furthermore, by linking IT (Information Technology), it is possible for many people to experience the content at the same time. WOW started a new experimental AR project “WOW AR Art Platform” because of the unknown possibilities of expressions and experiences in the augmented reality space where legal rules have not yet been set. “WOW AR Art Platform” aims to use AR to create an art installation in any environment. When AR brings motion graphics into the real world, what kind of feelings will users have and what kind of design will be demanded? This application “WOW AR” was created as a first step at an attempt to open up the possibility of new motion graphics using AR.

SHISEIDO, already present in 88 countries and regions worldwide, celebrated the grand opening of its SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE in Ginza, where the company was originally founded. This flagship store spans three floors of the building, making it the largest branch operated by the brand. Its primary goal is to enhance awareness and understanding of the SHISEIDO brand through beauty-centric experiences, and WOW played a key role in its development.

UI/UX Design for Products and Services on 1F and 2F
WOW was entirely in charge of the UI/UX design of the technology-intensive store fixtures on the first and second floors at the flagship store. Since store fixture location and enclosure design are closely associated with UX, in order to achieve the best UI/ UX, WOW has worked with companies on co-creation from interior design to store fixture design and backend development.

Planning, Directing, and Producing Installation Works That Embody the Brand
Water is the source of makeup, and as it pours down from the ceiling onto the water feature, ripples of “light” emerge fluidly with it, circulating and changing as if water and light were always breathing. The water droplets are computer-controlled, mimicking heartbeats. SHISEIDO’s skincare technology helps with nerve transmission and immunity activation within the skin. The ripples on the ceiling are supposed to resemble both of these.

Planning, Direction, and Production of PR Tools (Video and Graphics)
WOW planned, directed, and produced introductory videos, graphic tools, and various other flagship store contents.

Here at the SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE, with all its partnering businesses gathering, you will see digital contents that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. WOW spent time and had a discussion with SHISEIDO and its partnering businesses, allowing our collaboration to proceed smoothly. WOW applied SHISEIDO’s positioning ideas to the store’s UI/UX design, installation, and PR tools to create an integrated design and user experience.

Project Overview▶Case Study SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE Vol.1
Content Details▶ Case Study SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE Vol.2

In March 2023, ISSEY MIYAKE renewed its official website. The online store and other related service sites, which were previously operated individually, will be integrated into a single site to provide the latest information on each brand and its approach to craftsmanship, as well as a seamless shopping experience. WOW was in charge of the design and production of this new site.

▶ ISSEY MIYAKE INC.

■ Modern design that reinterprets the ISSEY MIYAKE style
For the renewal that integrated the entire ISSEY MIYAKE website (corporate, brand, and online store), we aimed to unify the design with a renewed awareness of the ISSEY MIYAKE style.

In terms of visual design, we minimized the use of gray and black to bring out the beautiful visuals of the brand and made it in a more modern and simple direction than the old site.

In terms of interface design, the design and layout of components such as menus, breadcrumb navigation, and footers were made more generic than the old site, and emphasis was placed on the ease of navigation and access to pages.

■ Brand pages that appropriately convey and deliver the worldview of each brand
The aim of each brand page was to create a structure that would allow each brand to express its individuality while ensuring a sense of unity as "ISSEY MIYAKE." The main visuals, product images, and images of models wearing the products are kept to a minimum so that the beauty of the visuals will stand out. The design of each content is modularized to ensure ease of operation and to provide a certain degree of flexibility in the modules so that each brand can have its own identity.

■ Product pages for a seamless shopping experience
The integrated website provides a more seamless shopping experience than ever before by creating a user flow from the look images on the brand pages to the product pages in the online store. In addition, the layout and operability have been optimized for each display device, such as smartphones and PCs, to improve the overall UX.