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Plan B Outdoors – Interactive Retail Installations

🏕️ Overview

Plan B Outdoors is a retail store specializing in hiking and camping gear. As part of a rebranding and digital transformation effort, I designed a set of interactive retail installations to enhance the customer experience, promote product discovery, and modernize the store's environment. This project focused on making the store safer, smarter, and more engaging through digital innovation.

Role

Branding & UI Designer

Tools

Adobe Illustrator, Figma, Adobe Aftereffect, Adobe Photoshop, HTML/CSS/JS

Scope

Solo project — research, ideation, design, and coding

🧠Understanding the problem

Diners often struggle to navigate different restaurant websites or apps, especially when brands are owned by the same parent company. There was a need for a unified platform where users could explore, interact with, and reserve from multiple restaurants without friction.

🕹️ Core Challenge

Improve in-store experience with engaging digital touchpoints
Enable self-service shopping through intuitive UI
Encourage product exploration without needing staff support
Enhance brand presence with consistent visuals and storytelling

🔍 Research

To design a memorable and efficient retail experience for Plan B Outdoors, I began by investigating common challenges in outdoor retail and exploring innovative approaches to in-store product discovery and interaction.

🧭 Competitive Analysis

I studied both local and international outdoor retail brands such as MEC, Patagonia, and REI, along with traditional retail formats. Key takeaways included:

Most outdoor retailers had limited in-store digital experiences and product discovery often relied on staff or printed tags.

Interactive installations were rarely used beyond basic digital signage or product catalogs.

While online stores were modern and engaging, the in-store journey felt disconnected or outdated.

👥 User Behavior Insights (assumed from informal observation & testing)

I visited a few outdoor stores and observed how people interacted with product displays. I also reflected on feedback from users who shop for hiking/camping gear. Key insights:

Shoppers wanted to see product use cases clearly (tents in real environments, layered outfits).

Many customers felt overwhelmed in large retail spaces and often didn’t know where to start.

People preferred to explore products independently, but often lacked access to helpful information without asking staff.

Customers liked the idea of being able to “test” outfits or gear virtually, especially when fitting rooms or full size product samples were unavailable.