SHISEIDO, already present in 88 countries and regions worldwide, celebrated the grand opening of its SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE in Ginza, where the company was originally founded. This flagship store spans three floors of the building, making it the largest branch operated by the brand. Its primary goal is to enhance awareness and understanding of the SHISEIDO brand through beauty-centric experiences, and WOW played a key role in its development.

UI/UX Design for Products and Services on 1F and 2F
WOW was entirely in charge of the UI/UX design of the technology-intensive store fixtures on the first and second floors at the flagship store. Since store fixture location and enclosure design are closely associated with UX, in order to achieve the best UI/ UX, WOW has worked with companies on co-creation from interior design to store fixture design and backend development.

Planning, Directing, and Producing Installation Works That Embody the Brand
Water is the source of makeup, and as it pours down from the ceiling onto the water feature, ripples of “light” emerge fluidly with it, circulating and changing as if water and light were always breathing. The water droplets are computer-controlled, mimicking heartbeats. SHISEIDO’s skincare technology helps with nerve transmission and immunity activation within the skin. The ripples on the ceiling are supposed to resemble both of these.

Planning, Direction, and Production of PR Tools (Video and Graphics)
WOW planned, directed, and produced introductory videos, graphic tools, and various other flagship store contents.

Here at the SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE, with all its partnering businesses gathering, you will see digital contents that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. WOW spent time and had a discussion with SHISEIDO and its partnering businesses, allowing our collaboration to proceed smoothly. WOW applied SHISEIDO’s positioning ideas to the store’s UI/UX design, installation, and PR tools to create an integrated design and user experience.

Project Overview▶Case Study SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE Vol.1
Content Details▶ Case Study SHISEIDO GLOBAL FLAGSHIP STORE Vol.2

The “Xmas AR Illumination” LINE gift launched in December 2020 was produced by WOW. Sending a LINE gift during the campaign period attaches a “Xmas AR Illumination” invitation card to the gift, which brings up the AR illuminations when tapped. It was an effort to help users share a special Christmas memory by enjoying the same AR illuminations in the sky even when they are far apart.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many events have been canceled, making it difficult to meet up with friends. However, Christmas 2020 only comes once. Even if you can’t meet up, we want you to be able to share a sweet memory by sending LINE gifts. With that in mind, we started this project to create an AR Illumination Show that allows people to share the same experience even when they are far apart.

No matter how far apart, we are all under the same sky. This content uses the sky as a grand stage to connect your experiences as you watch the show together. Holding up your smartphone where you have a wide view and can see the sky clearly will start the AR Illuminations. Additionally, you can add stars by tapping on the screen and there are different illumination animations when you watch it alone and with your partner. We aimed to provide a better experience when both the sender and receiver accessed the content.

WOW’s original project “The Shape of Prayer” has opened to public. This is a research project in which WOW, which has previously published the installation works “BAKERU” and “POPPO,” which rediscover the traditional culture of the Tohoku region through contemporary expression, will produce an original work based on the information learned from fieldwork concerning traditional prayer and its form.

Since ancient times, people have experienced awe and gratitude towards invisible things and natural phenomena, and have coexisted with them by giving them various “forms.” When we look at the meaning of the shapes that remain today, we can see the rich spirituality of our ancestors. “The Shape of Prayer” is a project that aims for us who live in the modern world to gain new insights and discoveries by experiencing traditional culture, which we have become less aware of in our daily lives, through contemporary media expressions.


Project background
Prayer has been practiced in various eras and places since ancient times. Performing arts, crafts, festivals, paintings, customs, food, music, architecture. People's prayers have taken on various forms to spread to many people and have been passed down through time. Some of these forms reflect the characteristics of local culture, while others have a commonality that transcends time and place. There are many occasions of praying for something even today, but we don't often have the opportunity to become aware of the culture behind it. We decided to take a fresh look at the spirituality that has been passed down from generation to generation and the culture behind it through the forms of prayer that are still around us today.

Project Contents
We will conduct research and fieldwork on the themes “katashiro” (a human-shaped talisman), “patterns,” “mountains,” and “sake,” which have been associated with prayer since ancient times, and in the end produce four installation works. The entire process will be documented on video, which will be made available online as a video work. In addition, we have deepened our research on a wide range of topics concerning prayer in collaboration with Miyagi University DESIGN STUDY CENTER. The video work to be released online will also be sequentially shown at the Design Research Building of Miyagi University (public release is scheduled for this summer).

▶“The Shape of Prayer” Official website

In the Tohoku region, there are old traditional folk toys such as “kokeshi” (wooden dolls) and “otaka poppo” (wooden toys with hawk carving). They are so familiar to everyone that perhaps we normally do not consciously think about them. But, the long tradition in the process of making these folk toys and the worldview they encapsulate are profoundly interesting.

At the POPPO Exhibition, there will be 3 new digital art installations created by WOW using our visual expression technology and based on what we learned from visiting workshops about the worldview wrapped up in these folk toys.

Interactive experimental artworks with themes such as “How do we express traditional worldview with modern technology?”, “Nowadays, if we were to play with traditional folk toys?”

We hope this exhibition will give you the opportunity to experience the world of traditional folk toys from a slightly different angle and rediscover the profundity of local culture.

An experiential video installation performance based on the motif of festivals and traditional events passed down from the history of the Tohoku region. This work allows one to personally experience the mysterious phenomenon of transforming into a non-human being. Building on WOW's interpretation, this work was visualized on the basis of four traditional event motifs: Namahage (ogre), Shishi-odori (deer dance), Kasedori (straw bird), and Saotome (young girl). As you face the screen, your silhouette begins to transform into each character, and the magnificent group performance begins to unfold through an animation projected on screen. It is a spectacle that allows you to enjoy and experience the mystic, eerie powers of transformation that will turn you into something new--something non-human. This is a performance that brings you in close contact with the traditional culture born from the spiritual atmosphere of the Tohoku region through a completely new type of expression, inspired by the desire to bequeath the value of such an experience onto future generations.

▶BAKERU official website