Case study · 04 Canada Goose Speculative retail AR concept Magic Mirror · 360 Booth Case study · 04 Canada Goose Speculative retail AR concept Magic Mirror · 360 Booth
Case Study · No. 04
Speculative retail AR · 2023
Canada Goose · Magic Mirror & 360 Booth

Every piece has a story to tell.

A speculative concept exploring the future of in-store retail for Canada Goose. Two intertwined experiences — an AR Magic Mirror for virtual try-on and product storytelling, and a 360 Booth that simulates the conditions Canada Goose jackets were built to survive. Led design on a small team.

Retail AR Sensory experience design Concept R&D SWOT Mood & sketching Hi-fi mockups
Canada Goose retail experience concept — Magic Mirror with virtual try-on of a red parka and a 360 Booth interior with a winter-clad model
01 — The short version

Built on a question: what if a store could feel like the arctic?

Canada Goose makes jackets engineered for the harshest weather on Earth. So why does buying one feel like buying any other coat? The brief I gave myself — find a way to make the in-store experience as bold as the product.

A speculative R&D concept built to explore how AR and sensory design could transform luxury outerwear retail. Not a paid commission — a self-initiated brief led with a small team, taken end-to-end from research through high-fidelity concept.

The output: two complementary experiences. The Magic Mirror brings virtual try-on, world-map storytelling, and product details to the mirror itself. The 360 Booth wraps the customer in a curved screen and simulates breeze, mist, cold, sound, light, and even scent — letting them feel what the jacket was built for.

Both built on the same insight: experience is the new luxury.

Type
Speculative R&D
My role
Lead designer
small team
Outputs
Two concepts
hi-fi mockups
Brand
Canada Goose
Arctic Program
02 — The two experiences

Two prongs, one story arc.

— i.

Magic Mirror — your story, on the glass.

An AR-enabled in-store mirror that recognizes the customer, layers virtual products onto their reflection, and surfaces product details with a tap. The mirror becomes a storyteller — showing where in the world the jacket was built for, what the Arctic conditions look like, and which items match the customer's destination.

AR · virtual try-on · product storytelling
— ii.

360 Booth — step into the arctic.

An immersive sensory booth wrapped in a curved screen. Inside, the customer feels real conditions: breeze, mist, cold air, ambient lighting, spatial sound, even scent. Wirelessly connected objects sync with the screen content. A tablet controls the room. The jacket gets to prove what it can do.

Sensory design · immersive retail · multi-sensory
03 — How it came together

From SWOT to sensory.

i.

Research & SWOT

Brand audit, market scan, and a comprehensive SWOT to map strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. What could Canada Goose own that no one else could?

ii.

Concept sketching

Strategy boards exploring "experience as luxury," followed by hand sketches mapping the booth's spatial design — breeze, mist, sound, lighting, smart mirror.

iii.

Hi-fi concepts

High-fidelity mockups of both the Magic Mirror UI flow and the 360 Booth spatial layout. Render-quality visualizations of what the customer would actually see.

iv.

Stakeholder review

Final presentation walking through the journey from rough concept to fully-realized experience. Positive stakeholder feedback and a path to next iteration.

04 — Research phase

Mapping the opportunity.

Before any sketches, the SWOT framed the strategic terrain — what Canada Goose could uniquely offer, what risks AR-driven retail brings, and what white space existed in luxury outerwear retail. The diagram below summarizes the working analysis.

  • Strengths
    Innovative experience, brand differentiation, deep engagement, personalization.
  • Weaknesses
    High costs, complexity, technology dependence — elaborate installs need maintenance.
  • Opportunities
    Market expansion, data insights, partnerships with tech and lifestyle brands.
  • Threats
    Competitive landscape, privacy concerns, economic shifts affecting luxury spending.
Comprehensive SWOT analysis for Canada Goose Magic Mirror and 360 Booth concept — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
05 — Rough concepts

The "experience is the new luxury" board.

The strategy board grounded the work around a single phrase that came out of early team conversations — "experience is the new luxury." The hand sketch came right after, mapping out the booth's physical and sensory architecture before any pixel work.

Strategy board for Canada Goose concept — sticky notes connecting 'Experience is the new luxury' to ideas about bellow-zero workers, immersive experience style, and the original 'Big Red' parka
/ i. — Strategy board
Anchoring the "big red feeling."
Hand sketch on graph paper showing the 360 booth concept — labeled elements include smart full mirror, breeze, misting, light effects, olfactory stimulation, 3D and spatial sounds, and temperature
/ ii. — Booth sketch
Mapping the sensory architecture.
06 — Final concepts

Mockups that made the case.

Two complete hi-fi concepts, each capturing a different layer of the in-store journey. The Magic Mirror covers the digital interaction — try-on, exploration, recommendation. The 360 Booth covers the spatial and sensory layer — the room itself as product demo.

360 Booth concept — annotated diagram showing breeze and wind fan system, misting and fogging system, temperature room control, 3D and spatial sound system, smart mirror, ambient lighting effects, olfactory stimulation, wirelessly connected objects, 360 curved screen wall, and tablet control center, alongside render-quality interior shots
360 Booth — full sensory layout.
i. / iii. — Spatial design
Magic Mirror concept flow — initial states showing Canada Goose logo appearing, virtual try-on of a red parka, palm-scan interaction prompt
Magic Mirror — opening flow.
ii. / iii. — From recognition to try-on
Magic Mirror main menu — four floating tiles overlay the mirror: Products by Location, New Releases, Measure Me, Take a Picture
Main menu — four ways in.
iii. / iii. — Core interaction model
Magic Mirror world map view — interactive globe showing climate destinations like Ushuaia, each linked to recommended Canada Goose products for that region
Products by location — the jacket has a destination.
Storytelling layer
Magic Mirror product layer — recommended items panel showing matching styles for the selected destination, and a detailed product card with pricing and specs
Recommendations & product details.
Convert + cross-sell
07 — What I took with me

Lessons from designing for senses.

i.

The product is the story.

The hardest part wasn't designing the AR — it was figuring out what the experience should say. The strongest moments came when I stopped asking "what can the mirror do?" and started asking "what does the product want to tell you?"

ii.

Speculative work still needs rigor.

No client meant no constraints — which sounds freeing, but the SWOT, sketching, and explicit framing did more work here than they would have on a paid brief. Self-set rigor is the difference between concept and daydream.

iii.

Sensory adds a fourth dimension.

Most designers work in two (screen) or three (3D / spatial). Adding wind, temperature, scent, and sound asks for a new kind of design vocabulary — one I'd love to keep exploring in future retail and brand work.

Outcome

Concept-stage, but shippable as a brief.

A complete speculative R&D package — research, strategy, sketches, and high-fidelity mockups — ready to be pitched to a brand team or developed into a working prototype. The kind of design thinking that opens the conversation, not closes it.

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