The House That Rexel Built
Rexel and Denmans teamed up to to create a house within a trade show, featuring physical products for attendees to explore. To complement this, they wanted a digital solution—an app-like experience or website to showcase their products—but without relying on internet access. That’s where I came in, developing an interactive PDF that functioned just like an app. It delivered the same engaging, user-friendly experience but at a fraction of the cost and completely offline.
Interactive PDF | App | UX / UI | Layout | Typography | Design Systems | Photo Editing
Agency 53, a marketing agency specialising in the construction industry, brought me on board to work on a project for their clients, Rexel and Denmans. Collaborating closely with both teams, I developed mockups and wireframes for an interactive PDF designed for iPad use. This included designing digital room mockups showcasing their products and conducted multiple rounds of testing to refine the final design.
Throughout the process, I considered that the iPad would be displayed on a stand rather than handheld, ensuring the design was accessible and user-friendly for tradespeople, all while maintaining Rexel's distinctive brand identity and style.
To ensure the PDF mimicked the functionality of an app, I designed interactive elements within the artwork such as buttons for navigating between rooms and clickable objects within rooms that triggered pop-up boxes linking to product pages.
During testing, key pain points emerged: the buttons needed to be larger, and because the PDF was displayed in full-screen mode on an iPad, tapping anywhere outside a button would minimise the document. To resolve this, I devised a solution where the rest of the screen acted as a button that refreshed the current screen, creating the effect of closing the pop-up seamlessly.
For the product pages, I focused on clear navigation, ensuring users could easily move between products and return to the specific room they started in. Some rooms featured duplicate products, so I structured the design with multiple unique product pages, each with individual links back to the correct room. This backend setup allowed the PDF to function as fluidly as an app.
The final interactive PDF was a hit, and the show was a huge success.
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Michèle Stocks
Michèle Renée Creative
London, UK
