Here-O Donuts - Nakheel Mall, Dubai

Roar has created a playful design language for homegrown doughnuts brand HERE-O’s new shops, drawing from the pastry’s distinct rounded shape. Across three locations – two in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi – Roar has creating its signature, eye-catching interior concept that inspires all the senses but, this time, turning its focus on the visiting customers’ experiences.

Sara Jamil, Senior Designer at Roar, explains: “ Our brief was to create a space that reflects the brand’s identity – which is resolutely embedded in the idea of fun and play – while devising a rich sensorial journey for the customer.” She continues: “A customer’s first impression typically forms in the first few seconds of entering a shop, that’s why we wanted to design an aesthetic that was immediately dynamic and a true physical manifestation of the ethos of the brand.”

Roar has fused manifold curvilinear lines with hot pink surfaces and detailing to compose an unmistakable look and feel, from the custom suspended neon lights to the sinuous bespoke furniture in bright rosy hues. The tactile materials include textured leather in different shades of pink, smoked pink mirror, graphite black tile flooring with pink grouting, metal mesh and wall cladding that resembles the corrugated metal sheets found on HERE-O’s first donut truck.

Roar has integrated various touchpoints of interactive and immersive technology into the space, adding elements of dynamism and surprise to the customer’s visit. In Dubai’s Mirdif Branch, digital screens mimic the movement of people as they play in front of them while the Nakheel Branch features a hologram device whereby colours and patterns evoking the different doughnuts’ flavours are projected onto a round-shaped sculpture that doubles up as a seat.

A claw machine offering bespoke merchandise sits at the entrance in all three locations next to a metal mesh-gridded retail wall that allows customers to take home a piece of the brand. A wall-mounted rotating conveyor belt, which displays the signature products, serves as a showstopper, greeting mall traffic and making for the perfect instagramable moment. The feature lighting, made up of HERE-O’s brand letters combined with the mascot doughnut emblem, peels of the ceiling suspended at varying heights.