A design collection proposal as part of a corporate branding plan for Takara Belmont, a Japanese company that specializes in the manufacturing and sales of hairdressing related appliances and cosmetic products, that is also engaged in hair salon consultation and spatial design.
In many industries, speed has a direct impact on the values of their services as can be seen with home deliveries for food items such as pizza and same-day delivery for online shopping. However, in the hairdressing industry, where cheap haircuts are prevalent, people have the perception that “a fast haircut” = “cheap price”. Moreover, the cycle for customers visiting the hair salons is becoming longer year on year, due to financial or time constraints and this has led to many people with partial problems such as hair that has grown to an awkward length, grey hair or damaged hair. To resolve these issues simultaneously, a new form of service called “3/30 (THREE THIRTY)” was developed.
The service is divided into 3 areas, hair cut, hair colouring, and hair treatment. The stores specializing in all the areas offer quality service in the short reasonable length of 30 minutes. So, pressed for time customers can visit the stores with no fuss every 3 weeks, as part of their daily lives. By making this short yet professional service available
in between visits to a hair salon for a whole service, a new routine proposed so that people can maintain a clean cut appearance. The space, equipment and cosmetics were all designed to match the new service offering.
The first feature is a compact 1.8m square sized cubicle work unit that enables the beautician to offer a mono-functional
service to each customer. The units were designed with the installation location in mind such as the corner of hair salons, or inside a train station or shopping mall that the beauticians who have registered beforehand can freely use them. The availability of the units and reservation can be conducted online, and by holding the smartphone over a device
one can make bookings and payments. Next, since the length of this service is only 30 minutes, steel frames were used to create a floating temporary sensation and enable them to blend in with any type of space. The 19mm steel frames used for the units were employed for the chairs, the mirrors, wagons and shelves to create this effect. With the treatment time being short, counter stool type chairs were installed. Due to this, treatment was able to be carried out while checking the balance of the whole body at the same time.
For the cosmetic products for hair salons, like shampoo, conditioners and various hair styling items the containers were made so they can contain the product volume to be used up in 3 weeks, and the cosmetic products were developed with importance placed on freshness. The aim was to create a new cycle where the customers will be encouraged to visit the
hair salon once the cosmetic products were used up. The design of cosmetic containers conjures up fresh food items for example milk, and the containers are displayed on dedicated shelves, creating a special message that they can only be purchased exclusively in this type of hair salon.
These cosmetic products were stored in a clear refrigerated show case. This enabled the service to be portrayed as fresh and high quality from the spatial point of view, similar to how restaurants that care about quality wine utilize wine cellars as an element of interior design. The working scene for beauticians will become more fluid and treatment for the customers provided with more reliability. This is made possible by networking the stores or spatial units that have implemented the equipment and cosmetic products with the existing hair salons, and sharing the customer list. Concurrently, for the harmonious prosperity with the existing salons, it was designed so the shops that have the original customer list can receive a cut of the sales through the 3/30, even when the customer has visited a different store.
This new service which focuses on superior technique and high value, high turnover, should also contribute to the rise in the spend of each customer and the frequency of their visit. A project that gets to the core of overcoming the issues faced by the current beauty and hair dressing industry from shortage of human resource and exodus of personnel by boosting the motivation of the staff while highlighting the changes in people’s lifestyles with the hair and beauty salons becoming more specialized.