Pure Power is a concept pop-up for Yonex at the USA Badminton Open. Spectators waiting between matches play a short scoring game, try the gear, and leave with something to share. It's user experience design applied to a physical space instead of a screen.
Queues, breaks and time between matches leave fans with nothing to do. They're the brand's most engaged audience, and nothing is aimed at them.
Specs don't make technology convincing to fans. Hitting a shot well does. People want to feel the sweet spot, not read about it.
A compact half-court game, then a gear try-on area and a merch station right after it, all in a 600 sq ft booth.
A complete concept covering the visitor flow, a rule-compliant game, 3D booth renders, a merch line and a metrics plan.
A self-directed concept. It is not affiliated with Yonex or the USA Badminton Open.
The Open is the top badminton tournament in North America. Yonex is expanding into tennis, golf and apparel and positions itself as premium and technology-led. Its entrance hall gets the most foot traffic of the event, and the people passing through are exactly who Yonex wants to reach.
They range from gear experts to future customers. The experience has to work for all four groups.
Fans have spare time but nothing meaningful to do with it. That idle time is the opening.
Every visitor gets to find their sweet spot and understand Yonex technology by playing, not by reading.
I mapped the booth the way I'd map an app flow: every zone is a step with its own job, arranged so people pass through them in order.
Squash courts save space by playing off the walls. Badminton doesn't allow wall rebounds, so the wall launches shuttles instead. That keeps play within the rules and cuts the footprint roughly in half.
The geometry follows function, with clear zones and restrained forms. It reflects Yonex's precision and nothing distracts from the product.
Shuttles launch at random from openings in the back wall. Players return each one, aiming for color-coded targets. Smaller targets score more, which turns accuracy into instant feedback anyone can understand.
Each round is 10 attempts. Rewards are tiered: everyone gets a keychain, 6+ points earns a cap or shuttle tube, 12+ a racket and 18+ shoes. Doubles mode adds 6 points to each threshold to keep it fair.
Random launches make every round different, so people replay. The simple rules mean a beginner and a club player can both walk up and play.
A blue-to-green gradient, an extended display typeface and "CAUTION / PURE POWER" graphics taken from a Yonex poster. The system carries from the booth walls to everything visitors take home.
A photo wall, automatic hashtags (#FindYourSweetSpot, #YonexUSAOpen) and score cards generated from each round make posting nearly effortless. Every post brings the event to people who aren't there.
Sessions played · average time in the booth · gear tryouts
Conversion rate · share of buyers choosing personalized items
Posts created at the event · campaign hashtag use
In a physical space, the flow, the interaction and environmental cues do the work that an interface does on screen.
Looking at the event from the organizer's and the brand's side showed how to fit into an existing culture instead of competing with it.
Waiting time turns into high-value engagement when the experience matches the rhythm of the event.
How people move through a space determined the zones, their order and their hierarchy.
