{{ designerName }} Commercial Exhibition Design

A Journey

The adventure to find yourself, a self-paced journey through scent, built to give Prada’s perfumes a stage of their own.

Role{{ roleLine }}

TypeRetail exhibition

SiteCentral World, Eden Zone 2

Scope121 m² · 3-day event

Exhibition 66.21 m² 55% of the floor area

Circulation 74% 89.83 m² of walkable path

Programme 4 zones Exhibition · Display · Knowledge · Test

Audience 2 groups Four personas, A to D

The objective

“Present Prada’s perfumes to gain greater recognition, comparable to their other product categories, showcasing that Prada’s perfumes are just as captivating and distinctive as those from other designer brands.”
Brief · Commercial Exhibition class

Perfume sits at the quiet end of the Prada catalogue. Leather goods carry the brand’s recognition; fragrance is bought, but rarely talked about. The exhibition had to do two jobs at once: teach visitors what is actually inside the bottles, and make the act of smelling worth showing up for.

Goals

–Present Prada’s perfume to be more known.
–Build knowledge about fragrances and ingredients.
–Increase the deficit of non-leather goods.

Brand analysis

The Prada style is affirmed at international level: minimalist, neutral colors, high quality fabrics, pleated skirts, intellectual-chic and cerebral sensuality.

Weaknesses found

57%of sales come from leather goods

–Weak e-commerce participation

–Events read as boring

–Not the brand people name for fragrance

Material language taken from the brand: black-and-white marble, checkerboard floor, faceted white volumes.

Who it is for

Group 1

Follows the crowd, quietly

Doesn’t like being the center of attention. Likes to follow the crowd, but still tries to express themselves.

Group 2

Wants to be seen as one of a kind

High need for uniqueness. Likes being the center of attention, and is interested in products that show the uniqueness of the self.

Buying criteria chart — Persona A Persona B Persona C Persona D
Buying criteria across the four personas: branding and price lead, trend follows.

Polarity map of personas — Personas A–D mapped on uniqueness against branding; the exhibition is aimed at the upper right.

The concept

A journey to find yourself.

“Showcase Prada’s various perfume lines to visitors, providing knowledge about the ingredients used in each fragrance. Real ingredients will be displayed for a tangible experience, along with opportunities for guests to sample a wide range of perfumes. Additionally, interactive activities will be available for those who purchase Prada products at the event.”

Exhibition

See an exhibition that takes you into the world of perfume.

Display

Show the main character of Prada’s perfume.

Knowledge point

Gain knowledge of the history and ingredients.

Sniffing test

Try, and find the perfume that is yours.

Zoning & circulation

Central World · Eden Zone 2

Exhibition66.21 m² · 55%

Knowledge point19.86 m² · 16%

Sniffing test19.86 m² · 16%

Display8.79 m² · 8%

Storage5.27 m² · 5%

Path takes 89.83 m², 74% of the plan. The route is deliberately loose: visitors set their own pace, double back to a scent they liked, and leave through either exit.

Floor plan with circulation — Plan and circulation: one entrance, two exits, counter-clockwise flow through the exhibition before the test bar.

Top view rendering — Rendered top view: checkerboard field against the planted exhibition floor.

The visit, step by step

Register

Booked online, limited places.

Exhibition

Enter the world of perfume.

Display

Meet the main characters of the range.

Knowledge

History and ingredients, in the hand.

Sniffing test

Find the one that is yours.

Friday

Opening, by invitation

Influencers and celebrities join the opening and promote it. Interested visitors register through a dedicated website; places are limited to a small number of participants.

Saturday

Registered guests only

Registration stays open on the website, but walk-in participants are not accepted.

Sunday

Open to the mall

Registration continues online, and those who are interested but have not registered can still attend on the day.

Design

Isometric cutaway of the exhibition — Isometric cutaway. Faceted white ribs carry the visitor from the entrance corridor, across the black display wall, into the planted exhibition field and out along the sniffing bars.

Exhibition interior — Exhibition zone: triangular vitrines set into faceted walls, each holding one fragrance and its raw ingredient.

Display niches — Display: the main characters of the range, lit one per niche.

Display wall detail — Wall text kept large and low, so reading happens at bottle height.

Knowledge point panels — Knowledge point: ingredient notes on black and ivory panels, with the real material beneath.

Vitrine detail: citrus, resin and spice shown as themselves.

Knowledge point corner — Downlights mark each note; the corner turns the panel into a reading room.

Sniffing test counter — Sniffing test: navy marble bar, one bottle per pool of light.

Elevation drawing — Elevation of the sniffing bar and its lighting track.

What I took from it

Knowledge is the hook

Fragrance is hard to show and easy to forget. Putting the raw ingredient next to the bottle gave visitors something to look at, touch and remember the scent by.

Pace beats sequence

Giving 74% of the plan to path let people wander instead of queue. The zoning, not signage, does the guiding.

Next time

I would prototype the sniffing test with real people early, and design the three days as three different densities of crowd rather than one plan repeated.