In Brief
Marimekko has transformed brand loyalty experience by creating a digital space that feels like stepping behind the scenes of the iconic design house: immersive, inspiring, and unmistakably Marimekko. The Marimekko App gives the Friends of Marimekko a backstage pass into creativity and colour, blending editorial content, playful engagement, and context-driven commerce into one joyful daily experience.
Within Marimekko's omnichannel universe, the app quickly found its core audience with over 40,000 downloads right after its launch in December 2025. Users not only adopted the app for inspiration and browsing, but also actively used it as part of their shopping journey - confirming the app's role as a meaningful and commercially relevant channel in Marimekko's ecosystem.
The app marks a shift for lifestyle retail, turning loyalty from transactional to experiential and strengthening emotional connection with one of Finland's most loved brands.
Strategy
The challenge
End-to-end digitality sits at the core of Marimekko's growth strategy. This already guides the development work of Marimekko's e-commerce platforms which play a crucial role in attracting and serving the global customers, who are discovering the brand for the first time.
However, one channel alone cannot deliver everything from quick first-purchase journeys to deep brand exploration. Consumer behaviour is shifting, and people increasingly want to spend time with brands they love, not just shop occasionally.
Marimekko's customers don't buy on impulse. They dream about prints, plan their purchases carefully, and invest in pieces designed to last. When they finally buy, the moment is intentional and rewarding - which is exactly why they need meaningful ways to stay connected with the brand between purchases.
The strategic response
To address Marimekko's challenge, the team decided to create a dedicated digital space that embodies the feeling of being invited behind the scenes of Marimekko: immersive, inspiring, and personal.
Users played a key role throughout the project, shaping the concept and refining the experience at key stages. Marimekko's existing insights helped the team to form initial hypotheses for a new digital space: loyalty research and e-commerce user validation both provided background understanding of how customers engage with the brand, what they value, and where current digital channels leave space for deeper connection.
Creative idea & validation
A backstage pass to Marimekko's colourful world
The Marimekko App was created to give fans an exclusive insider experience: a backstage pass to creativity, colour and joy every day. It is a unique digital space that combines inspiration, brand heritage, community and commerce in one seamless experience, turning loyalty into a creative journey rather than a points programme.
The app provides an immersive playground where fans engage daily with creativity and design heritage.
Key customer value drivers behind the creative idea:
experiences
experience & shop
The concept was tested through concept desirability testing with 15 users. The testing focused on the overall appeal and brand fit of the concept, as well as the clarity of the high-level content structure and core flows.
Testing helped confirm that an app centred on brand content, behind-the-scenes stories, and loyalty felt meaningful and desirable, while also clarifying the optimal content grouping and structure.
Designing the experience
Engaging and creative space for Friends of Marimekko
The design process focused on translating Marimekko's creative idea into a seamless digital experience, shaped through rapid prototyping, testing, and a commitment to making every interaction intuitive, meaningful, and true to the brand.
The solution brings together:
Discover
Discover section serves as the gateway to the Marimekko app, gathering inspiration from every corner of the Marimekko universe.
The feed spotlights collections, prints, collaborations, and exclusive behind-the- scenes glimpses through the Showroom
and Backstage.
Backstage Stories delve further into the creative journey, showcasing design elements and introducing the individuals who shape Marimekko.
Print Library
The Print Library, featuring more than 3,500 patterns, invites users to explore their
favourite designs, see the products they
appear on, and learn about the designers
behind them.
It's an open-ended way to wander through Marimekko's visual language and let
curiosity lead the way.
Membership
Membership summarizes your Unikko Point details and gathers all your benefits in one place. Easy access to collect your benefits whether it's in physical store or in digital
stores.
Technical solutions to enable first-class usability
The native iOS and Android apps offer a refined, intuitive experience with exceptional speed, making navigation and interaction feel instantaneous.
Integrations like Flowbox for user-generated content and Braze for personalised communication and gamified loyalty features turn the experience into something active, engaging, and alive.
Built on a composable architecture, the app stays flexible and scalable, supporting modern omnichannel strategies. Additionally, content teams are free from extra work: shared layout blocks make it easy to reuse and manage content across channels.
As the end-to-end app experience took shape, a closed beta test with 60 users was conducted prior to launch. The beta focused on identifying any major usability issues in a real usage context. Based on the findings, minor adjustments were made and the experience was further polished to ensure readiness for launch.
Project overview. The app was taken from vision to launch in 11 months.
vision & concept
Outcomes
Meaningful connection creates business value
Launched in December 2025, the app is still in its early stages. Yet the results already show how precisely the app supports Marimekko's long-term strategy and resonates with its community.
With over 40,000 downloads within a couple of weeks and a 4.9/5 App Store rating, the app extends Marimekko's lifestyle vision into a dedicated digital space.
It has also shown clear commercial traction. Loyal fans shop more eagerly through the app than other channels, demonstrating that deeper inspiration and emotional connection translate directly into business value.
Thanks to Marimekko app, a growing community of Friends of Marimekko returns daily to explore prints, stories and wishlists, building a relationship that aligns perfectly with Marimekko's goal of creating real value between buying moments.
(Dec 2025 - Jan 2026)
(Based on 61 ratings)
Team
The team that made the app happen
The project brought together Marimekko's digital strategy team and two key partners to create a solution that reflects the brand's lifestyle vision.
- Marimekko led the project, setting the direction and making sure the app was designed and developed in line with the brand's identity, values, and long-term vision.
- Hi Shine focused on creative concept and UX/UI design to capture Marimekko's bold identity and joyful aesthetic in app.
- Nitor led technical development, ensuring robust engineering and seamless integration.
This collaboration combined strategic insight, creative storytelling and technical excellence.
Marimekko
Jarno Kartela, Emmi Lonka, Annika Mänty, Oona Kalliomäki, Saija Tiitinen, Oona Grönberg, Linda Halt, Joona Väänänen, Henrik Hjort, Max Pagels, Samu Salmijärvi, Mari Laukkanen, Mari Nikitin, Ulla Timonen, Hanna Knaapi, Matti Lehto, Jussi Kantonen. And Marimekko steering group members and other stakeholders.
Hi Shine
Esa Hallanoro, Matilda Kivelä, Heidi Hopponen, Santeri Kinnunen, Timo Puronen.
Nitor
Mikko Kankainen, Aleksandr Namanyuk, Riku Kalander, Antti Poikela, Irpo Niemenmaa, Timo Koskinen, Ville Himberg.
And all test users helping us refine the concept and giving feedback during beta <3