For Harbour Town's Chinese New Year celebrations, our client wanted a photo activation that allowed shoppers to enter their year of birth, take a photo and receive an image featuring their Chinese zodiac sign and description.
[ CaSE StuDy ]
Year of the Horse
Harbour Town
//
2026
[
Project planning
]
Project considerations
Our concept was to transform the simple zodiac photo idea into a Li Xi (lucky red pocket) inspired visual experience. Guests entered their year of birth through a custom interface, allowing our system to automatically calculate their Chinese zodiac sign.
Once captured, their photo was processed through an AI workflow that transformed them into a chibi-style illustration, inspired by traditional Chinese New Year red pocket artwork. The final image featured the guest's illustrated portrait, their zodiac animal and a short description of that zodiac.
To ensure the activation stood out within the centre, the entire machine was also wrapped in Harbour Town's Chinese New Year colour palette, with deep red branding designed to make the experience visually striking and highly shareable on social media.
Creating a logic engine to determine the correct zodiac sign from a guest's year of birth
Researching the Chinese zodiac to ensure the correct associations between years and animals
Transforming real guest photos into a consistent chibi-style illustration using AI
Designing 12 individual templates, one for each zodiac animal
Building a custom microsite and UI that replicated Harbour Town’s Chinese New Year branding
Ensuring the activation was visually striking and Instagram-friendly within a busy retail environment
[
Product scope
]
Solutions used
PicAIsso
A robotic artist transforms guest portraits into live-drawn artwork. After a quick photo, an AI-powered system analyses the image and begins sketching it line-by-line in real time. Turning the drawing process into the show, PicAIsso creates a moment that draws a crowd and delivers a personalised keepsake.
Development
Phase 1:
Concept & Zodiac Research
The first phase focused on translating the Chinese zodiac concept into an interactive retail experience. We researched the zodiac calendar to ensure the correct year-to-animal mapping and designed the logic required to automatically determine a guest's zodiac sign from their year of birth. At the same time, we began simplifying zodiac descriptions so that each animal's traits could fit neatly within the final layout.
Phase 2:
Visual System & Template Design
To maintain consistency across all zodiac signs, we created 12 individual templates, each featuring a unique zodiac animal while maintaining a uniform layout. Each template incorporated a portrait area, zodiac iconography and a short descriptive text. This ensured every guest received a visually consistent image regardless of their birth year.
Phase 3:
AI Portrait Transformation Workflow
One of the most complex parts of the project was transforming guests into chibi-style illustrations resembling traditional Li Xi red pocket artwork. Achieving consistent results required extensive prompt experimentation and the introduction of numerous constraints and negative prompts to ensure the style remained uniform from user to user.
Phase 4:
Custom Software & Activation Environment
To deliver the experience seamlessly, we developed fully custom photo booth software with a branded user interface, loading screens, and output displays that matched Harbour Town’s Chinese New Year campaign graphics.
A custom microsite handled guest data collection and zodiac calculation, while the physical booth was wrapped in Harbour Town’s official red branding (#9B1C20) to ensure the installation stood out within the shopping centre.
Phase 1:
Concept & Zodiac Research
[ Phase 1 ]
Concept & Zodiac Research
The first phase focused on translating the Chinese zodiac concept into an interactive retail experience. We researched the zodiac calendar to ensure the correct year-to-animal mapping and designed the logic required to automatically determine a guest's zodiac sign from their year of birth. At the same time, we began simplifying zodiac descriptions so that each animal's traits could fit neatly within the final layout.
[ Phase 2 ]
Visual System & Template Design
Phase 2:
Visual System & Template Design
To maintain consistency across all zodiac signs, we created 12 individual templates, each featuring a unique zodiac animal while maintaining a uniform layout. Each template incorporated a portrait area, zodiac iconography and a short descriptive text. This ensured every guest received a visually consistent image regardless of their birth year.
[ Phase 3 ]
AI Portrait Transformation Workflow
Phase 3:
AI Portrait Transformation Workflow
One of the most complex parts of the project was transforming guests into chibi-style illustrations resembling traditional Li Xi red pocket artwork. Achieving consistent results required extensive prompt experimentation and the introduction of numerous constraints and negative prompts to ensure the style remained uniform from user to user.
[ Phase 4 ]
Custom Software & Activation Environment
Phase 4:
Custom Software & Activation Environment
To deliver the experience seamlessly, we developed fully custom photo booth software with a branded user interface, loading screens, and output displays that matched Harbour Town’s Chinese New Year campaign graphics.
A custom microsite handled guest data collection and zodiac calculation, while the physical booth was wrapped in Harbour Town’s official red branding (#9B1C20) to ensure the installation stood out within the shopping centre.
Development
Phase 1:
Concept & Zodiac Research
[ Phase 1 ]
Concept & Zodiac Research
The first phase focused on translating the Chinese zodiac concept into an interactive retail experience. We researched the zodiac calendar to ensure the correct year-to-animal mapping and designed the logic required to automatically determine a guest's zodiac sign from their year of birth. At the same time, we began simplifying zodiac descriptions so that each animal's traits could fit neatly within the final layout.
Phase 1:
Concept & Zodiac Research
[ Phase 2 ]
Visual System & Template Design
To maintain consistency across all zodiac signs, we created 12 individual templates, each featuring a unique zodiac animal while maintaining a uniform layout. Each template incorporated a portrait area, zodiac iconography and a short descriptive text. This ensured every guest received a visually consistent image regardless of their birth year.
Phase 1:
Concept & Zodiac Research
[ Phase 3 ]
AI Portrait Transformation Workflow
One of the most complex parts of the project was transforming guests into chibi-style illustrations resembling traditional Li Xi red pocket artwork. Achieving consistent results required extensive prompt experimentation and the introduction of numerous constraints and negative prompts to ensure the style remained uniform from user to user.
Phase 1:
Concept & Zodiac Research
[ Phase 4 ]
Custom Software & Activation Environment
To deliver the experience seamlessly, we developed fully custom photo booth software with a branded user interface, loading screens, and output displays that matched Harbour Town’s Chinese New Year campaign graphics.
A custom microsite handled guest data collection and zodiac calculation, while the physical booth was wrapped in Harbour Town’s official red branding (#9B1C20) to ensure the installation stood out within the shopping centre.
Development
[
Phase 1
]
Concept & Zodiac Research
The first phase focused on translating the Chinese zodiac concept into an interactive retail experience. We researched the zodiac calendar to ensure the correct year-to-animal mapping and designed the logic required to automatically determine a guest's zodiac sign from their year of birth. At the same time, we began simplifying zodiac descriptions so that each animal's traits could fit neatly within the final layout.
[
Phase 2
]
Visual System & Template Design
To maintain consistency across all zodiac signs, we created 12 individual templates, each featuring a unique zodiac animal while maintaining a uniform layout. Each template incorporated a portrait area, zodiac iconography and a short descriptive text. This ensured every guest received a visually consistent image regardless of their birth year.
[
Phase 3
]
AI Portrait Transformation Workflow
One of the most complex parts of the project was transforming guests into chibi-style illustrations resembling traditional Li Xi red pocket artwork. Achieving consistent results required extensive prompt experimentation and the introduction of numerous constraints and negative prompts to ensure the style remained uniform from user to user.
[
Phase 4
]
Custom Software & Activation Environment
To deliver the experience seamlessly, we developed fully custom photo booth software with a branded user interface, loading screens, and output displays that matched Harbour Town’s Chinese New Year campaign graphics.
A custom microsite handled guest data collection and zodiac calculation, while the physical booth was wrapped in Harbour Town’s official red branding (#9B1C20) to ensure the installation stood out within the shopping centre.
Bold visuals over 12 unique templates.
Custom software, AI assisted artwork and our expertise brought the Chinese New Year celebration to shoppers.
[
End result
]
Project outcome
The result was a vibrant and highly shareable Chinese New Year activation that combined cultural storytelling with playful AI-generated imagery. Shoppers were able to quickly discover their zodiac, see themselves transformed into a festive red pocket illustration and share their personalised result online.
By combining custom software, AI-generated artwork and bold visual branding, the activation became a standout feature of Harbour Town's Chinese New Year celebrations.
[
Key outputs
]
The outputs
No items found.
