Signboard designs for a pop-up shop.
- Project year: 2025
- Client: Und Star
Overview
I designed a signboard and an introduction board for a fashion pop-up shop in Tokyo.
- UndStar official website (Japanese)
- Crowdfunding project of the brand (The shop closed in 2025, and now the kimono-remake brand has departed separately.)
The Background
UndStar was a fashion select shop that was establishing a new brand at this period. The mission of the new brand was to revive traditional kimonos by recreating them into modern outfits and spreading their beauty, targeting inbound tourists. The shop got several opportunities to open pop-up shops in the Tokyo metropolitan area to promote this new brand.
The Objective
Since the business started as a small select shop in Yamaguchi (the western edge of Honshu island) and just relocated to Fukuoka, it was largely unknown in Tokyo, both for locals and tourists.
From this situation, I decided to set “make customers remember the brand” as the primary objective.
The Challenge
Most visitors were expected to come to the shop by chance, not by finding it online or hearing about it elsewhere.
While the client wanted the visitors to discover the full aspects of the brand by looking into the backstory of the kimono, this meant that:
- There was a high chance that the visitors wouldn’t pay attention to the brand information, especially if it took the form of a text wall.
- It was crucial to provide an easy way to remember the shop name or any other information. Otherwise, the visitors would never be able to reach out to the brand in the future.
The Solution
When we don’t have time, energy, or an initial interest, we tend to understand a new thing intuitively from what feels loud. So,
- I highlighted a few lines from the brand backstory poster to make sure they could work as the minimum keywords to remember.
- I selected a few photos that tell how the products are made, to let visitors understand the brand concept even without reading the text.
- I convinced the client to put the information about the kimono history online instead of installing it on a wall, and also to print its QR code on price tags.
- This way, visitors could reconnect with the brand later, and also the brand could be discoverable by the people who searched for general information about the history of the kimono.
- The articles
- Japanese (original): 着物の誕生と発展の歴史
- English (translated by me): The Birth And Development Of The Kimono
Workflow/communication method
Full-remotely with Chatwork and Google Meets