MAC Cosmetics

The store remembers you.

Client
MAC Cosmetics
Discipline
Connected retail
Role
Experience Director
Year
2022
Platform
In-store, AR, RFID
Responsibilities
Experience design, interaction model, retail journey
The MAC connected store experience

Overview

A concept store in Queens where picking up a lipstick transformed the mirror in front of you. We created a hands-free system that let customers virtually try on products, build their selections as they moved through the space, and have everything waiting at the register for fast, contactless checkout during COVID-19.

User flows first

We had to get the user flow just right

The QR code journey mapped across entrance, experience and transition, with user pathways annotated beneath

Tap & Try

No touch tryon

RFID recognises the product in your hand. The mirror applies it instantly. No searching, no typing, no catalogue. The technology underneath was sophisticated; the interaction wasn’t.

*Britt tested the prototype with his daughter, proving the technology worked seamlessly and giving MAC the confidence to move forward with the full experience.

Continuity

One identity, carried across the room.

MAC Pass wasn’t a login. It was memory, turning disconnected screens into a single accumulating visit.

The four-step station flow: choose an avatar and create a pin at Lips, then enter it at Eyes and Face, with takeaway options at the end

Physical and digital, blurred

Technology that makes the real world respond.

Virtual Try-On and the connected mirror

Outcome

200%+ Increase in digital engagement, first month
1 in 3 In-store customers used MAC Pass
Month 1 How quickly it showed

Digital stopped being another channel. It became connective tissue.

Next project

ADM

A global digital estate that had outgrown any structure holding it.