The Roar-designed Here-O Donuts shop uses play elements like an interactive animated screen and a classic arcade claw machine to articulate its brand identity.

Key features

Design studio Roar designed the Here-O Donuts shop in Dubai’s City Centre Mirdif shopping mall. A display counter showcasing the doughnuts and barista area face the mall’s interior with an adjacent dining space. Different shades of pink cover the walls and textured leather seating. Metal mesh and corrugated metal sheets on the walls draw on the brand’s origins as a doughnut truck. Neon lighting spelling out the brand’s name is suspended from the ceiling in the dining area.

The space makes use of the theme of playfulness, which is present through interactive elements. Animated screens at the entrance mimic the movements of customers and a claw machine filled with the brand’s merchandise adds a gamified element to the experience. ‘Our brief was to create a space that reflects the brand’s identity – which is resolutely embedded in the idea of fun and play – while devising a rich sensorial journey for the customer,’ says Sara Jamil, senior designer at Roar.

FRAME’s take

Here-O Donut Shop’s brand is centred around playfulness, immediately communicated to customers and passersby through the interactive design of its Dubai store. The responsive screen instantly draws the attention of mall-goers to the shop, as it responds to their movements. The playful, gamified experience offers a memorable stop appropriate for the setting. Interactive elements don’t always need to be overtly functional – like touchscreens for placing orders – but can instead serve as brand-identity symbols and a means of generating foot traffic in busy commercial environments.