Office Depot- Paper Category Concepts

Office Depot wanted to see some ideas around making bulk paper (traditionally not a very glamorous category) easier to shop and more exciting. This was a quick two day exercise that began with identifying three areas to improve; making selecting paper more intuitive, offering an easier to shop process, and define the category as a destination.

A visual outline was quickly created with some reference photos and key descriptors for each of the ideas. The concepts were meant to range from easy to implement to more complex to challenge thinking along the way and open the imagination.

The existing bulk paper packaging already had a simple color coding system. This concept extends it to environmental elements like suspended ceiling boxes and divider walls. The design of the signage components were inspired by creased paper forms.

Boxed paper packs weigh a significant amount and aren’t easy to load into a typical shopping cart. Taking a cue from home improvement store that use specialized carts to move lumber, this concept features a custom cart design and automated box loading system. The design of the bulk tower is meant to ease box loading and serve as an iconic store feature.

The Paper lab aims to make the category a destination for Office Depot as well as move it into the twenty-first century. Functioning as a shop-in-shop, the Paper lab features a environmentally regulated premium paper area and wireless demo print station where customers can test print documents from their mobile devices.