HELPING SHERWIN WILLIAMS ENHANCE RETAIL WITH A MORE INTUITIVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Walking into a paint store should feel like flipping through your favorite home décor magazine: breezy and enjoyable. But more often than not, navigating the sea of color swatches can feel simply overwhelming. That’s why Sherwin-Williams asked IDEO to help design an intuitive color-selection experience for their North American paint stores. The challenge: appealing to three types of buyers—DIY consumers, professional painters, and professional architects and designers—each of whom have different needs and shopping behaviors.
We learned that people typically approach a painting project in one of three ways—a feeling they want to invoke, a color family they like, or a
general desire to get inspired. The final designs are playful, interactive, and easy to use. The resulting in-store display, named ColorSnap Studio, allows customers to channel their inner Vanna and flip paint tiles on a Wheel of Fortune-like wall display organized by color family. An in-store workspace, stocked with color guides and inspirational postcards, inspires exploration.
And for architects and designers, a handy binder full of swatches can be stashed in a sleek portable kit.
In 2015 the new system began rolling out to all 4,000+ stores across the US and Canada. Finally, adding a little color to your life is a lot easier.
COLORSNAP CASE STUDY
