Interactive Visual Merchandising, Interactive Window-Shopping at Nordstrom, Downtown Seattle: "Writing With Light"

Please DO Touch the Glass: Our Interactive Window
Nordstrom Blog, 3/25/11


Nordstorm's Interactive Development, Visual Merchandising and Operations Teams worked on this interactive visual merchandising project, outlined in the following video:

Nordstrom Downtown Seattle: Writing with Light


FYI:  I will be exploring the topic of Pervasive Retail over a series of posts.  Here are some tentative blog post titles:
Interactive Visual Merchandising, Screens Large and Small at the Mall Revisited, Large Displays in Public Spaces (preview of CHI 2011 workshop),  Privacy and Security Issues in Interactive, Cross-Platform/Device Pervasive Retail,  Accessibility and Cognitive Load Issues in Pervasive Retail,  Overview of Retail Customer Experience's resources, and more.

The atracTable Multi-Touch System from Atracsys

The atracTable is a multi-touch presentation system developed by the Swiss engineering and development group, Atracsys. It is similar to Microsoft's Surface. Interaction on the table can be triggered by laying objects on the table.

(Marc Hottinger and Lionel Tardy , of Amorpik, designed the interface.)

AtracTable FAQ's

From the Atracsys Website -"How does it work":
"atracTable is the combination of a video-based movements tracking system, a computer, a beamer, and a screen.

When you lay an object on the screen, the tracking system recognizes the object wiht a visual tracking tag on the base of the product. At the same time, the tracking system detects the positions and movements of your fingers and of the objects on the screen.

The whole pieces of information concerning the product(s) and the different locations and movements are sent to the computer. The data is processed and sent back to the beamer.

The processing is performed instantaneously. The real-time interaction is obtained by continous detection of fingers and objects movements. The whole technology fits in the table and is invisible for customers".

Another creation by Atracsys is beMerlin, a gesture-based interactive system that plays out as an interactive window. Although it is used for visual merchandising, it looks like it has potential for other uses, such as wayfinding, building directories, interactive museum exhibits, and education.

Click to enlarge image

How it works: