Reshape your offer based on user needs
01.Brief
Scrambling, fast hiking (...), mountain sports are evolving rapidly while maintaining strong fundamentals. Each activity requires specific footwear. To ensure the best possible experience, Quechua is re-evaluating its current offer and how its product range is structured.
The starting point was to consider the fundamental needs of practitioners, whether physiological or psychological. These needs are what motivate and shape their mountain activities. Understanding them is essential for designing truly adapted and effective models.
Contribute to driving design innovation in a sector that represents 10% of Decathlon’s turnover.
02.Imagining and deploying a Design Language
The "design shoes" expert team at Quechua has asked us to support them in envisioning their future Design Language dedicated to hiking footwear :
- Express the emotions that each model should evoke for users,
- Highlight the essential elements that define each range,
- Outline a long-term “heritage” signature to become a reference in the sector.
This Design Language aims to be rolled out within the teams over several years. It will serve as a reference for the entire value creation chain (offer, design, engineering...) to evolve the catalogue and imagine future models.
A 5 days workshop to rethink a strategic offer
Highly motivated by this project, we propose to co-create an inspiring and evolving vision. We're moving away from a dogmatic approach constrained by a form factor (freezing a shoe volume or outsole shape...). Instead, we focus on feelings and perception, leaving room for the creativity of integrated designers.
The studio is organizing an extended workshop with all of Quechua's Shoes designers.
We begin by exploring different user experiences in forests and mid-mountain environments to question what defines each model.
- What emotions does each range evoke upon first discovery in-store and in the field?
- What invariants are present in each model on the upper, the shape, the outsole, the arch, the labels, (...)?
- What symbolic meanings do the various components, textiles, reinforcements, inserts, (...) carry?
- How do these models fit into the group's new identity with a strong re-focus on the Decathlon brand?
The studio leads workshops that alternate between user experience discussions, writing emotional stories, sketching sessions, and more. It also draws on its expertise in textile design, shoe design, and generative AI to challenge the integrated designers.
Foster excitement within the integrated design teams and challenge them with our expertise
At the end of the workshop, we have the framework and content to create the deliverable: a Design Language with a diverse range of content, blending operational elements with inspirational ones, such as audio narratives.
Carefully crafted, it serves as a reference at Decathlon and inspires the group's brands.
Results
Positive impact
The emergence of a 'heritage' signature allows for the creation of timeless models with an extended shelf life in stores, reducing the impacts associated with the creation of new tooling.
Simplicity
By creating levels of reading adapted to different professions, we made the decision to produce a deliverable that facilitates dissemination.
Satisfaction
This needs-based approach involves the Quechua teams in a renewal of their practices and the solutions provided to users.
