Case Study:

Minnies are “Innies”

The Challenge

In trade shows or client offices, standing out is everything — but acoustic lighting products present a unique challenge. Their large scale makes them difficult to carry, display, or leave behind.

Beyond logistics, there's also the message: how do you communicate key features of the product, like the transparent light engine, the flat-pack sustainability story, and the 96 color options, without the full-size product in front of the customer?

The challenge was clear — make a big product impossible to miss, in a small, smart format that could go anywhere and tell the full story.

The Insight

Sales teams didn’t need the full product — they needed the experience of the product.
By focusing on materiality, design language, and modularity, a miniaturized version could capture the essence of the product line, spark conversation, and speed up decision-making.

A well-designed sample didn’t need to be full-scale — it needed to be thoughtfully scaled.

That meant finding a way to:

• Maintain materiality and visual fidelity.

• Convey scale, assembly, and acoustic mass.

• Highlight the flat-pack design as a sustainable advantage.

Provide a modular, portable solution solved for a convenient method for sales reps to transport the product line at lunch and learns, sales presentations, tradeshows, and events.

The Solution

Minnies were “Innies” - even back in 2019 - with the Shaper Sense Sales Sample case. Sohana Arni conceptualized, designed, and built a Mini Acoustic Sample Kit that featured:

• Scaled-down versions of the actual acoustic lighting products using the same materials and finishes.

• Two mini replicas (“Box” and “Trapezoid” shapes) magnetized to demonstrate how the product shipped — flat-packed — reducing freight costs and supporting a lower carbon footprint

• A fast, tactile demonstration of both assembly logic and sustainable packaging.

This wasn’t just a sample — it was a tactile brand experience, engineered for mobility.

The final kit was compact, durable, lightweight, and fully portable — allowing any rep to walk into a presentation, no freight required

The Result

The tool helped internal teams, sales reps, and specifiers:

• Serving as a go-to leave-behind and demo tool for the sales team.

• Created a high-engagement moment during trade shows (as scene in social media posts for years)

• Helped users quickly visualize color pairings and the active light engine

• Showcasing sustainability not just through messaging, but through form and function

• Sparked new interest in additional “scaled storytelling” tools across product lines

A thoughtfully miniaturized sample kit can transformed a complex, large-scale product into a portable, high-impact sales tools — that conveyed material quality, sustainability, and product features in a tactile, memorable way that accelerated engagement and decision-making.