Grenoble Ecole de Management

Strate College Designers

PIERRE BUTTIN

Estée Lauder, partnership with Strate College

Collaboration with 2 industrial designers and 1 engineer

Problem

Skin care products are expensive. They often require a daunting decision-making

process. Moreover, consumers feel lost in non-glamorous, messy corners of

standardized beauty shops.

Challenge

How to ease the decision-making process for buyers of skin-care products?

Solution

Customers want less choice. Besides, brand loyalty is high.

We have hence chosen to display less products in an entirely modular display. The

shelves are made out of single storage units stacked together. This system eases

the segmentation by brand. Plus, the «bricks» are highly customizable.

Business viability

A great emphasis has been put on the cost-effectiveness. One single mold is needed

to manufacture the storage units. Moreover, no screwing or gluing is required to

stack them together. To end with, the system is scalable and adaptive : according to

their configuration, all the shops can design their own corner.

IN-SHOP SKIN CARE EXPERIENCE

TAILORED SUITS E-SHOPKai De - Le Grenadier

Collaboration with 2 web-developpers + 2 other co-founders (French and Chinese)

Problem

The need for personalization was growing. However, tailored suits were

still too expensive for most people.

Challenge

How to democratize tailored suits?

Solution

Qualitative research showed us that we had to offer a suit for less than 300€.

To this aim, we collaborated with Chinese tailors who were using made-to-measure

process. We then sold the suits to French customers through a website.

The retail price for a suit + shirt + tie was 239€.

The buying process was as follows :

- French client goes to website and order a suit

- Client goes to French dressmaker (partner) who takes the measurements

- Measurements are sent to Chinese supplier

- Chinese supplier send it to dressmaker

- Dressmaker makes the final alterations with the client

Business viability

We had a network of French dressmakers willing to take the client’s measurements

in exchange of 5% of the final price. The Chinese suit maker in Beijing charged 100€

for a a suit + shirt + tie. Everything went fine until marketing and sales expenses skyrocketed.

After 1 year of existence, we closed down the business.

Why it failed

- Seed money did not allow to scale the business

- Poor user-experience on website

- Lack of coordination with Chinese suppliers

- Inexperienced team (2007)

- First mover disadvantage

Problem

The 14 airlines member of the SkyTeam alliance wanted an unified signage system for

high-contribution customers. However, they wanted to keep their individual branding.

Challenge

How to harmonize heterogeneous brand identities under one common system?

Solution

In a close collaboration with airline member’s branding agencies, we picked the key

elements of each brand (logos, colors, distinctive signs). We incorporated them in a

single system easily recognizable for customers.

Business viability

We kept the costs low by adapting the system to all the airline’s branding material

around the world. For example, the typefaces had to be chosen according to the

operating systems run by the different airlines.

SKYPRIORITYSkyTeam - Brandimage

Graduation project - Strate College

High honors from the jury

Problem

People used to enjoy moments of micro-boredom to think about

their own existence. Now, portable devices like smartphones filled these

moments. It is hard to find time to think about one’s choices in life.

Consequently, some big decisions that people make are less

informed and less rational than ever.

Challenge

How to make people taking the time to make better decisions about their lives?

Solution

I designed a secret diary with direct questions about important life decisions.

Writing on paper forces the user to think before writing. Besides, graphics

based on vernacular symbols lightens the seriousness of the questions.

New problem : how to be honest if there is a risk that somebody reads the

diary? I had to hide it in a object. A professional magician helped me to

design a secret mirror. Thanks to a low-tech mechanism, only the initiates know

which buttons have to unscrewed to access to the diary. As a side effect, the

time to open the box puts the user in a meditative state, thus enhancing its

thinking.

In visual terms, the contrast between Memphis-style exterior and bright colours

on the inside is a metaphor for the self.

Business viability

This project aimed to be a conceptual statement. I was nevertheless approached

by several publishers wanting to sell the book.

SECRET DIARY and mirror

RESEARCH THESIS

Problem

I put a lot of effort in writing my thesis about the convergence of art, design

and marketing. However, I was not sure that the jury would read it all.

Challenge

How to make the jury read my thesis and think about it?

Solution

I went through the painstaking process of writing down my thesis on actual

paper, and illustrating it.

Business viability

Jury members read it entirely. They were therefore more interested in my project.

80 pages of theoretical background for my graduation project - Strate College

Grenoble National Contemporary Art Center - Le Magasin

Problem

As an amateur artist, I had nothing to show for the contest organized by the museum

for its Christmas exhibition.

Challenge

How to design an interesting piece of art with no formal artistic background?

Solution

I build on the name «Christmas exhibition», and decided to make an advent calendar.

I printed 24 application forms. On each one, I wrote my personal information plus

the sentence : «I would love to participate to the Christmas exhibition».

Every day for 24 days, I sent the jury one application form. The graphic elements (typeface,

colours) gradually get more complex.

I was finally selected for the exhibition. The 24 letters were exhibited alongside with the

envelopes.

Business viability

This project cost barely nothing and had a great impact : all the press articles

about the exhibition mentioned the piece. It also questioned the traditional

business model of artists : Is it possible to be recognized by the institution as an

artist with only one site-specific piece?

COVER LETTERS

IKEA CRISIS CHAIRPersonal project - Collaboration with an industrial design student

Problem

Europe's economy is struggling. As a consequence, people have less and less money

to seek happiness. They are more sad than ever. They are consequently looking for

re-enchantment through statutory products. Signature items such as designer chairs

are commonly the most sought after. Unfortunately, they are often too expensive.

Challenge

How to make a democratic signature chair?

Solution

A chair made out of two IKEA Lack tables. This project does not intend to criticize

nor praise IKEA. It is a simple attempt to highlight the company's role in the fight

against the recession.

Business viability

Its costs of 10 euros makes it a nice pick for people who want to afford designer

furniture while on a recession.

It is a signature chair because we sneaked it inside the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2012.

We then displayed it alongside expensive designer’s chairs.

Personal project - Collaboration with an industrial design student - Aalto University gallery

This business-driven exhibition aims to be a conversation-starter about standardization.

Does the IKEA pencils - and products - really look the same? To a larger extent, what

about our lives?

IKEA PENCIL EXHIBITION

I like to find new ways of making information understandable and pitching concepts.

I also like to create custom typefaces.

PRESENTATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS