A Pop-Up Is a Journey

A pop-up is often briefed as a thing: a stand, a van, a wall of screens. Visitors don't experience a thing, though. They experience a sequence, from seeing it across the car park to telling someone about it later. So design the sequence first.

People remember the peak and the end

Nielsen Norman Group's piece on the peak-end rule describes a 1993 study by Kahneman and colleagues. People held a hand in cold water for two rounds, one of which lasted longer but ended slightly less cold. Afterwards, 80% chose to repeat the longer one. They preferred more discomfort, because it ended better.

For an activation, this means you don't have to make every moment great. You need one real peak, and an ending that's been designed. Many activations have neither. They fade out at a leaflet.

Map it before you design it

A journey map visualises the process someone goes through to reach a goal. It's made of an actor, a scenario and expectations, journey phases, actions, mindsets and emotions, and opportunities. On a pop-up, the phases are simple: notice, approach, try, peak, leave, share.

Walk through it as a visitor. Where do they queue, and what do they look at? What if it's raining, or they've got a child with them? Where's the photo? Most of the good ideas come from these questions, rather than from the hero feature.

An example: four winter sports, one ID. Buzz

Volkswagen is TeamNL's mobility partner. On the road to the Winter Games, we designed a way for fans to feel the sport, not just watch it: an ID. Buzz that opens up into a pop-up arena. Our work went from the concept and the customer journey through to the production plan. It included 4 sport activations and 3 fan extras, such as a snowboard challenge on a balance board and a shared virtual bike tour.

Designing the customer flow first meant each activation had a place in the visit, rather than being a game on a screen. The van is the star, and the sport is the reason to step in.

Plan the end on purpose

Decide the last thing that happens. It could be a score to take away, a shared result or a photo at the van. Whatever it is, it's what people will remember, and it's the bit they'll pass on.

The stand has the same problem

Even a stand with one screen has a journey, though people arrive in the middle of it. And the interactive parts need to survive contact with the public, so plan for what visitors really do. Our interactive apps page covers more of this kind of work.