Woman speaking into a microphone with a slideshow in the background
Designer selection process; 15 designers from each city, New York, Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Milan were selected to present their ideas for the Heineken Club to the six design mentors.  The selection events were powered by PechaKucha
(Image credit: TBC)

The integrity of the project was always uppermost in the minds of the organisers. The Heineken team encouraged the designers to react to insights and personal experience, collaborating with each other and the various coaches, culminating in workable design solutions, rather than designing for design's sake.

To provide inspiration and background 100 clubbers gave insights to club life around the world in the top 20 nightlife cities, and this was used to pose questions to the designers – how can the VIP area be improved? What would make the bar/drinks ordering experience more pleasurable/efficient?

Designers around the world then fed into a co-creation platform, where they could post ideas, respond to each other's sketches and initial ideas, discuss topics, and seek advice from mentors.  Effectively, the designers could embark on a virtual club world tour to check out different club environments.  With all this information at their disposal, the designers were given the blank canvas to create their vision of a nightclub.

A vacant space on Via Bugatti in Zona Tortona, Milan, is where the pop-up club begins to take shape. Working under the guidance of leading design experts from a range of fields (interior architecture, product design, graphic design, interactive and experiential design, identity design and fashion design) the project’s selected talent has been asked to explore the ‘science of social engagement’, pooling ideas to produce a boundary-pushing ‘concept club’ incorporating unexpected and vibrant future concepts.

To help the various concepts develop, the group that Heineken terms its mentoring design panel and coaching team were also on hand. This team of mentors includes; from the world of fashion design duo Leemans and Wicker (aka LEW), Luc Schurgers, founder of state of the art interaction and animation design lab. MiniVegas, to help inspire interactive & experiential design, Sergio Fabio Rotella, founder and director of Studio Rotella, trend-setting architects of top-end clubs and bars, graphic designer Ramses Dingenouts the creative Director at DBOD, Eugene Bay Director of the VBAT identity design outfit and Henk Stallinga, the product designer behind Studio Stallinga.  This team has not just helped in the selection of the young designers, but also accompanied them on research/club tours and coached them through the design process - it’s called co-creation after all!  In some cases, Heineken brought the designers to the mentors’ studios in order to further develop major concepts face-to-face.

A man with a suit riding a motorbike with a female passenger wearing a red helmet and black dress

Milan; the club world tour

(Image credit: TBC)

A crowd of journalists and press, pointing their cameras at the photographer

Milan; the club world tour

(Image credit: TBC)

Aerial shot of Tokyo at night

Tokyo; the club world tour

(Image credit: TBC)

View along a row of illuminated shop signs in Tokyo at night

Tokyo; the club world tour

(Image credit: TBC)

Black and white image of design mentor Fabio Rotella with Heineken Open Design Exploration designers

Design mentor Fabio Rotella with Heineken Open Design Exploration designers

(Image credit: TBC)

Black and white image of Guiseppe Conca holding a handrail in a train carriage

Guiseppe Conca, Milan-based product designer

(Image credit: TBC)

Portrait of Fabricio Lima, Sao Paulo based motion designer

Fabricio Lima, Sao Paulo based motion designer

(Image credit: TBC)

Black and white image of glitter balls

Designers and mentors visited clubs in New York, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Milan to research different clubbing environments, social behaviours and interactions between other clubbers

(Image credit: TBC)

Nightclub dancefloor with DJ and strobe lights

Designers and mentors visited clubs in New York, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Milan to research different clubbing environments, social behaviours and interactions between other clubbers

(Image credit: TBC)

Nightclub DJ and equipment

Designers and mentors visited clubs in New York, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Milan to research different clubbing environments, social behaviours and interactions between other clubbers

(Image credit: TBC)

Band on stage in nightclub

Designers and mentors visited clubs in New York, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Milan to research different clubbing environments, social behaviours and interactions between other clubbers

(Image credit: TBC)

Webpage where designers and mentors can post ideas

The Heineken Concept Club community, an online platform for designers and mentors to post research insights and share ideas.  An integral part of the co-creation process

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital image of types of people getting a drink at a bar

The online platform provided a necessary tool for research and communication, allowing global interaction.  100 specially selected clubbers were asked to comment blog-style on different aspects of clubbing providing valuable insight for the designers and mentors

(Image credit: TBC)

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.