Mexico City Collection
Product & Process StrategyHow do you translate a city as beautiful and complex as Mexico City into a line of floor and wall tiles?
Challenge
The client, one of the three largest tile manufacturers in the world, was looking to pilot a human centered approach to designing new products by developing a high-end wall and floor tile collection in honor of Mexico City’s designation as World Design Capital 2018.
Approach
We started by connecting with the brand’s target, the country’s top and upcoming architects. In conjunction with Design Week México we conducted a series of interviews and workshops to understood how they defined Mexico City as well as understanding their needs and the way tiles are incorporated in their design process.
With the objective of uncovering the meaning and signals denizens hold of Mexico City, we facilitated a semiotic workshop where we used participative design exercises to stimulate a group of architects to collaborate and expand the conversation.
Our research process included field work with historians and archeologists to understand the city’s history through the evolution of its architectural landmarks
Cross referencing all the information resulting from both primary qualitative research and secondary desktop research we constructed strategic recommendations along with the conceptual guidelines that would bring the collection to life.
Outcome
The result was overwhelmingly strong, Mexico’s beauty lies in its chaotic quality, where the layers in our history clash to create a unique collage of culture.
This was a pilot launch of the design process that translated into creating a varied collection where the individual products mixed and clashed much like the buildings in the city’s historic center do. We worked from concept and product design to narrative and communication materials, creating a making-of video that documents the entire process.